Everyone Loves A High School Story
by Harry Potter Fan 1994
Summary: ...Except the characters in it. Sequel to Yeah, Another High School Story. Kori, Dick, and friends are staying near the beach for the summer, but meet some familiar faces. Relationships will be tested, and some lost completely. R and R! Complete!
1. Chapter 1: The Vacation

I have so many stories out at once, lol. Oh well...none of them are really getting done anytime soon...

I know I said this would be up in december, but I was gonna write a different story, and I decided not to.

Question: this chapter is in the format I used for Yeah, Another High School Story. Would you rather it this way, or that I only wrote from one POV? I can tell you right now it'll be REALLY important to see this story from both sides to know what's going on, and you don't have to read both POVs if you don't want to, but if you find it super-annoying, let me know.

Disclaimer: I don't own TT

* * *

Kori Anders groaned, opening her eyes only to be temporarily blinded by the sunlight blasting through her drapes. She pulled the blanket over her head, wondering what had woken her in the first place. 

"Morning, Kori," said a voice. She felt flower petals under her nose and opened her eyes again, going cross-eyed trying to stare down at it. The voice laughed as she sat up, smiling when she saw the flowers her boyfriend had handed her. Morning glories.

"Oh, you poetic romantic, you," she crooned sarcastically, and Richard Grayson laughed, kissing her.

"I knew you'd like them. Anyways, are you packed?" Kori slapped her forehead, jumping out of her bed.

"I knew I was forgetting something! We're leaving today?" she asked. Richard rolled his sapphire eyes, nodding. "I'll be done in five minutes...wait a second..." She threw open her closet door, randomly pulling out T-shirts, capris, swimsuits, flip-flops, and a suitcase. Turning back to the huge, messy pile, she threw everything in, and then laboriously zippered it up. Richard shook his head in amusement. "I'm packed!" Kori announced.

"I can see that. If that thing explodes before we get to the beach house..."

"It probably won't. No guarentees. Did you call the others, and remind them?"

"I got Gar, Vic, Alan, Wally, Nicole, and Roy. You might wanna call the other girls. You know, besides Nicole, Gar, and Roy." Kori giggled.

"I'll be sure to tell him that."

Kori had waited forever...more like a week...for today. Today she and Richard, along with the rest of their friends, were heading out to a nice, five star hotel on the beach that Bruce, Richard's adoptive father, had kindly rented for them, because, apparently, they were all 'pain in the necks to have around Wayne Manor every day.' There they'd be staying for a month, and then coming back to their houses. Gar was still having some separation issues with his mom, but the rest were thrilled.

Kori was particularly looking forward to a nice, romantic vacation with her boyfriend of six months. Long walks on the beach at night, the beautiful restaurant at their hotel, and not to mention the fact that she would be far away from Galfore's very overprotective eye. He came to Wayne Manor almost every day, and always seemed to know exactly when she'd reached make-out point with Richard, so he interrupted. But now she had a month away from that, and next to no troubles otherwise. Nothing could possibly go wrong...

* * *

Richard loved watching Kori sleep. He had no idea why, it was just calming. He loved watching her do anything, really. She was the light of his life, and if only he'd found her sooner, he'd have been so much happier. Of course, if he hadn't spent the first three months of school wishing the plague on her, that might've helped, too. But that was a different story. 

Now they were together, and happy beyond their wildest dreams. Kori had moved into Wayne Manor, his adoptive father's home, and her uncle Galfore now lived in her old home. Her parents had died not six months ago, but with him, she was okay. He still saw her cry silently to herself when she was alone, but he always knew when to be there to make things right. It had become something of a hobby of his. Plus, it was another excuse as to why he was kissing Kori. He didn't want to get on her humongous uncle's bad side.

"Kori..." he said softly. Usually, that was all it took for her to get up. She must have been pretty tired to only stir and fall back asleep again. "Kori...wake up."

She groaned, opening her eyes, but not really focusing, and then closing them again. Richard grinned. "Morning Kory." He rubbed the petals of a morning glory up against her face. He'd realized that her name rhymed with the flower just two days ago, funnily enough, and actually went out to buy the plant and put it in the backyard of Wayne Manor. Bruce hadn't minded so much, merely wondered how Richard had ever learned to be sweet. It was hilarious to hear that word come out of Bruce's mouth, but Richard had managed to keep a straight face and shrug.

She woke up eventually, and he reminded her about their special plans for today. Kori was the most disorganized person he knew, and it showed as she attempted to pack her suitcase. Everything was shoved in without a second thought about wrinkles, and it was done in about two seconds. He just rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her waist, leading her downstairs to breakfast.

They managed to get both Richard's and Kori's (rather stuffed) suitcase in the car, and Alfred took the driver's seat. They were heading to Vic's house, where everyone would meet. Both Vic and Karen had minivans, which they were taking to the hotel. Everyone else left their cars at home.

Richard not-so-inconspicuously slung his arm around Kori's shoulders, grinning widely. He knew how much Kori was looking forward to this trip, even if she was a bit forgetful in the morning. He planned to make it the best vacation she could possibly have. But he could probably start with letting her put on the seat belt before he decided to cuddle up.

* * *

So, there's chapter one! If you haven't read Y.A.H.S.S. yet, I'll try to make as much sense as possible, and if you don't get something, you're always welcome to ask! Thanks for reading! 


	2. Chapter 2: The Meeting

Ugh...I wish I didn't have to write these first chapters...I wish I could just skip to the end...you guys wouldn't mind that, would you? LOL just kidding.

Disclaimer: I don't own TT

* * *

"Well, alright!" boomed Vic, slapping Richard on the back jovially. The jet-black haired teen stumbled forward a little bit, only to be caught by Kori, who was giggling madly. "Let's get this party started! I'm driving my car, and NO ONE...coughGarcough...else is gonna touch it!" Gar grumbled something incoherently, but shrugged as if he didn't care. 

"Actually, Bruce is bringing the motorcycle," Richard said. "Me and Kori'll be on that."

"Okay then, two down, five hundred to go. Gar, Roy, Alan, and Wally, y'all can come with me, and the girls'll go to Karen's car."

Again, Kori giggled. "By Richard's definition, that means Roy and Gar have to ride in Karen's car, too." Roy gasped.

"Wanna go?"

"Eh, he's right on that one, but there's no space. Let's hit the road, people, we've got nice, long vacation ahead of us!" Vic cut in, as Richard was just about to accept the challenge with one hand behind his back.

Kori climbed behind her boyfriend on the motorcycle, slipping on a helmet. "Ready to go, Kor?" Richard asked.

"Ready when you are, Richard," she answered serenely, resting her head on his back.

It was a wonderful hour-long ride to the hotel, and by the time they reached, Kori's face was tomato-red from the wind. Richard laughed at her, but helped her off and led her into the Mallah Hotel and Suites building. To say it was large would be an understatement. This thing was bigger than Wayne Manor, fifteen stories high, and very expensive-looking. Everything inside was made of a rich, cherry-colored wood, with soft lights and lots of deep reds and royal blues. Kori stared around the enormous lobby in awe, and Richard smirked.

"You like it? Bruce and I came here once, the food's pretty good. Most of the first floor is a restaurant." Kori just nodded, slightly dazed. "Come on, Kor, everyone else is up ahead. We're gonna be the last ones to get to our floor!" He grabbed Kori's hand and pulled her along.

Much to the complaints of most guests, Rachel had to hold open the elevator door until Kori and Richard made it in. The ride up was completely silent and very hot, as they had just fit twelve teens, plus a few more guests, in a tiny amount of space. Kori started getting a little claustrophobic, and sighed in relief when the elevator doors 'ding'ed open on floor eight, their home for the next month.

They'd gotten four rooms, and separated out into four different groups. Kori bunked with Rachel and Karen. She kissed Richard goodbye (while everyone else turned their heads, muttering that none of the other couples found that necessary) and waited as Karen slid a key into the slot.

"Ooh!" she cooed, rushing into the room. "Look at the view! It's amazing!" Karen nodded, but Rachel shrugged unenthusiastically. Kori was used to this by now, and didn't let it upset her as she stared out to the ocean.

"Geez, can they load these rooms up any more? We've got a shoe polisher! Can you believe that?" asked Karen incredulously, peering down at what looked like a duster. "And this place is so big, too! Let's just stay in here for a month!"

"Yeah...I guess it's nice," muttered Rachel, settling down in an armchair and beginning to read. Kori tugged the book away from her.

"Not now! We have exploring to do! Come on, let's unpack and then meet everyone outside!" Rachel sighed in annoyance, but did as Kori asked. The three girls walked outside their room a short while later, to find that they were the only ones done unpacking.

They were joined shortly by the rest, and while they were figuring out what to do, one of the neighboring doors opened. Out stepped one of the last people Kori ever wanted to see. "Well, well, will you look at this. How's it going, cutie?"

Immediately, the whole group tensed. Kori felt Richard's arms snake around her waist protectively. "Xavier," she spat, glaring. Xavier Redd had been expelled from Jump City High, as soon as word got out that he was actually a serious drinker and a drug addict. Kori remembered their last meeting quite well. She'd been helpless, and he'd hurt her badly. That was never going to happen again, not if she could help it.

"Hey, hey, I'm one hundred-percent safe now. Seriously. Took classes and everything. Anyways, word on the street is that you and Dork Grayson over there are actually a couple," Xavier snorted. Kori raised her eyebrows.

"Excuse me?"

"Whatever." A small group of people emerged out of the room Xavier had just come out of. Among them were a couple of faces Kori knew well: Terra Markov and Kitten Moth. Terra grinned weakly and tried to wave, but faltered when she saw Gar and Rachel. Then there was Malchior Draco and a couple more people from Xavier's gang. "Speaking of couples, I'd like you guys to meet a friend of mine. She might look a little familiar to a few of you." From behind him stepped a pretty redhead Kori had never met, but already knew was bad news.

* * *

"Enjoyng the ride?" Richard asked Kori, unable to keep a smirk from crawling on his face. He was yelling over the wind, but he hoped Kori could hear. 

She tightened her grip on him, laughing and leaning into his ear. "Of course." He knew motorcycle riding was one of her favorite pasttimes.

Talking wasn't much of an option when riding on Richard's "R-cycle," but neither of them really minded. He felt Kori's head rest on his back as the initial euphoria passed, and tighten her hold on his waist. He slowed down a little bit, so the wind quieted to a dull roar, which wasn't actually very quiet, now that he thought about it.

It was a two hour ride to the hotel, and nearly impossible for Kori to hold on tightly for that long, so they took a break, stopping at a gas station. Richard leaned back against the bike, wondering where Kori went when he had his back turned, but saw her not thirty seconds later heading over from the tiny mart near there with nachos and pop. "If you were hungry, I could've bought you something along the way," Richard said as she handed the nachos to him.

"It's not for me. At least, not most of it. Eat." Richard rolled his eyes, but knew there was no point in arguing. Kori leaned up and kissed his cheek. His reward, he surmised, for keeping quiet. He finished the chips with Kori's help, then crossed his arms in front of his chest, expecting another kiss. She grinned and threw away the trash, then waited while he climbed back on the motorcycle, muttering mock-darkly about 'the point of having a girlfriend.' As she climbed on behind him, he grabbed her suddenly and swung her around the the front, chuckling as she shrieked.

"You didn't think I'd let you off that easily, did you?" he murmured, pressing his lips to hers. It took them a good fifteen miutes to get started again.

They reached the hotel at about the same time as everyone else, who told them Gar had needed to take five emergency bathroom breaks along the way. Vic had almost left him the last time, but the scrawny little guy had rushed out with his pants half off begging for them to wait.

Richard, Vic, and Gar's hotel room was the same as the girls', but had a view of the city. Richard carefully unpacked his suitcase, knowing he'd have to go back and help Kori later. Vic and Gar threw everything on their beds and then started rushing him, finally getting him around to their point of view when they mentioned that _Kori_ would be waiting for him outside.

He was whipped, and he knew it.

Quickly rushing out to find everyone else already there, he spotted Kori and reflexively wrapped an arm around her. The two ignored everyone else, who were trying to decided whether they should go to the beach or arcade, while they kissed. Roy had once described them as the 'joined at the lip' kind of couple, and Richard had to agree.

"Well, well, will you look at this. How's it going, cutie?" asked a very familiar, and very much hated voice. Kori pulled herself out of Richard's grasp, but he held on to her again, vividly remembering the last time he'd found her with Xavier.

"Xavier," she spat.

"Hey, hey, I'm one hundred-percent safe now. Seriously. Took classes and everything. Anyways, word on the street is that you and Dork Grayson over there are actually a couple," Xavier snorted. Richard snorted along with him. The day Xavier would be safe was the day pigs would fly.

"Excuse me?" said Kori angrily.

"Whatever. Speaking of couples, I'd like you guys to meet a friend of mine. She might look a little familiar to a few of you." From behind him stepped a girl Richard knew well. He shot her a dirty look as a greeting.

"Babs."

* * *

And so it begins... 


	3. Chapter 3: The Club

Disclaimer: I don't own TT

Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who reviewed!

* * *

"Babs." Kori froze. So _this_ was Babs. The girl who'd broken Richard's heart, and very nearly broke hers because of it. She forced a smile, while glaring, but Richard didn't even bother. 

"Hey Dick. It's been too long," Babs replied, flashing a smile. Kori didn't like her voice, too sultry-sounding, but then again, Kori didn't like anything about her.

"No actually, I'd rather it have been longer," Richard sneered, shifting Kori in his arms. Babs threw a disgusted look in her direction, before smiling at Richard again. "By the way, this is Kori, my _girlfriend_." Vic cleared his throat, noticing the escalating amount of tension in the hallways.

"Anyway, we were all just gonna go to the beach...or the arcade, one of the two. So if you don't mind..."

"Aw, come on. The gang and I are going to that club downtown, you guys wanna come with?" asked Xavier mock-politely.

"YES!" Roy burst out, and then covered his mouth when everyone sent him death glares.

"In case you haven't noticed, Xavier, we aren't twenty-one," Rachel pointed out.

"And your point is...? I know people there, I could sneak us in. Plus, I know the owner of the hotel, too, he's a family friend, so he let us stay here for free. He won't tell anyone if we come in late. And it's not like there aren't a thousand high-school kids sneaking in clubs every day. No one cares," Xavier scoffed. "Are you guys in or not?" The group looked around uneasily at each other, each (except Roy) believing this was a bad idea, but how could they refuse?

"Fine," answered Karen. Xavier grinned and rubbed his hands together.

"Excellent. We're leaving in about an hour, so get ready." With that, Xavier, Malchior, Kitten, Terra, the two boys and one girl no one knew, and Babs left them in the hallway, heading to the elevator. Suddenly, the room door opened again, and a very familiar carrot-top rushed out.

"Steven!" cried Kori in surprise. Steven looked a bit surprised, too, but his face broke into a smile when he saw Kori.

"Kori, hi! I'd talk, but I think I'm late. Xavier's heading out to the pizza place, and we've only got one car." He kissed Kori on the cheek and hurried off, while Kori's heart stopped in shock. Richard cleared his throat and she turned around. He looked furious.

"Well?"

"It's not like I _asked_ him to kiss me, Richard. I'm sorry. You know it meant nothing," Kori reasoned. He relaxed.

"Yeah, sorry. Just being overprotective, that's my job. Come on, let's go get dressed or whatever." Kori kissed him on the lips, tugging him back when he began to pull away. "Or maybe we can wait here..."

Wally and Alan pulled them apart. "Come on, lovebirds, there'll be plenty of time for romancing when you're dancing...hey, that rhymes!" exclaimed Wally in delight. Alan rolled his eyes, but didn't bother arguing.

An hour later, they all joined up with Xavier and Company, who were in the lobby, hanging out and eating pizza. They all drove there with a growing sense of unease. The club's name was 'Bloodred,' which didn't exactly calm them. Kori clung to Richard's arm, trying to ignore the wolf-whistles and phone numbers being shot her way. She hadn't worn anything revealing, at least, that's what she thought. The men here were just animals. Richard glared at the lot of them, and most of them shut up.

"Come on, Kori, ignore them. It's a slow-ish song, let's dance." Kori nodded, still tensed up, but calmed down slightly once Richard embraced her. They swayed to the music together, adding a kiss every now and then, and the environment around them just faded away. It didn't really matter too much anymore.

Suddenly, Kori was tapped on the shoulder. "Do you mind if I cut in?" Babs asked sweetly. Kori's first instinct was to say no, but she nodded and scooted out of the way, throwing a confused glance at Richard. He shrugged, and Babs wrapped her arms around his neck. Jealousy burned through Kori, and she decided not to watch. She found Rachel at the punch table after wrestling her way through the crowd.

"Enjoying yourself?" Kori yelled over the now super-loud music. Rachel shook her head, glaring darkly at a certain spot in the crowd. Kori followed her eyes to see Gar dancing with Terra, although he didn't look too happy about it. Rachel watched them like a hawk, almost never blinking. The side of her mouth curled up into a snarl as Terra moved closer. "Don't worry about it, Rachel. Gar'll never go back to her after she cheated on him," Kori assured. Rachel shrugged and took a sip of the punch, spitting it out almost at once.

"Alcohol," she spat. Kori grimaced, glad she hadn't had a chance to drink it yet.

The two girls sat next to each other, Rachel preoccupied with staring at Gar and Terra, and Kori off in her own world. Five songs came and went, and still Richard wasn't back. She signalled to Rachel and went off to find him.

There. In the middle of the dance floor. Richard and Babs were awfully close...kissing. Kori stopped short, sure she'd nearly fainted. Babs pulled away with a self-satisfied smirk, winked at him, and disappeared, while Richard stared at the spot where she had just been with a dazed expression.

* * *

Babs. He hated the very name, it sounded like she was eighty or something. He hated everything about her. And now she dared to come back and _smile_ like they were old friends? As if. It was no wonder when Xavier first mentioned the club downtown, Richard's first thought was 'this is my chance to show Babs that Kori's everything she never was.' He'd been trying to get Kori to the center of attention as often as possible, and apparently Babs had noticed. She didn't look to happy about it. 

Richard sworeas he tore open his suitcase, trying to find another sock. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem, but now his mind was in a rage. This was supposed to be his and Kori's perfect vacation, but now _she_ was here, and Xavier, and Steven. What made that guy think it was okay to kiss Kori anyway? Idiot.

Richard was not in a good mood.

This fact was worsened when they got to the club, with guys throwing suggestive comments at _his_ Kori. He'd had just about enough, and if it hadn't been for his dance with Kori, he might've lashed out at a few of the persistant ones.

"No, stay for another one!" Babs insisted. She'd taken Kori's place a while ago, much to Richard's aggravation. She danced far too close for comfort, and he could barely concentrate on pushing her away, his mind was so wrapped up with hoping Kori was okay in this mass of people. "You're so obvious."

"What?" asked Richard distractedly.

"Your girlfriend? Dick, she's like my clone. You miss me, admit it," Babs clarified, spinning around. Richard gaped, surprised at how self-centered she was.

"Um, no...?"

"Come on, Dick, stop acting like you don't know anything. The red hair, the green eyes, the great smile...you're still completely in love with me. And I want you back, too."

Richard snorted. "In case you haven't noticed, _Barbara_, I'm completely over you. You cheated on me, we're done. Kori's my girlfriend, and she's a whole lot--" He was silenced by Babs's lips on his own. She pulled away, winking slyly.

"I know, but just think about it." She disappeared into the crowd, leaving Richard wondering why in the _world_ he'd ever dated someone like that.

"Hey, Rachel," he muttered, coming over to the drink table. He reached for the punch, but Rachel slapped his hand away.

"Don't drink that. What happened between you and Kori?"

Richard frowned. "What do you mean?"

"She left a while ago. Something about 'you aving enough fun here without her.'" Richard's eyes widened in realization, and he groaned. Kori must have seen Babs kissing him and taken it the wrong way.

"I think I'm going back to the hotel, too. See you, Rae." He left, not stopping to notice Gar bump into him after he'd pushed Terra away.

Richard climbed on to his motorcycle, noting with an ncreasing amount of nervousness how many thug-ish looking people were out right now. It was dark, about nine o'clock or so, but the actual good citizens of the city were safe in their beds. Nighttime was not safe out here, especially for a rich-looking teenage girl, all alone...

He sped up, sighing with relief as he saw the telltale flash of red hair. His motorbike screeched to a halt next toher, and she glanced at him in alarm, looking away when she saw who it was. "Need a ride?" Richard asked. Kori shook her head, and he parked the bike, getting off and walking next to her. "Kori?"

"What?" she shot back, her voice rather shaky. Richard cupped her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Kori, you know it meant nothing. Babs means nothing to me, just you. She thinks so much of herself, it's almost crazy. The thing is, no matter what she does, and no matter what it looks like I'm doing, you know you're the only one I could ever care for." Kori shrugged, sighing.

"I know."

"Hey, come on. _Please_ ride with me on the motorbike? I swear it's not half as fun without you anymore." Kori cracked a small smile and nodded.

By the time they got back to the hotel, she was laughing her head off. Richard joined in with her, kissing her fully on the lips and feeling his heart soar as she giggled with delight. Babs didn't know what she was talking about. Kori was the only one for him.

"'Night, Kor."

"'Night, Richard." They shared one last kiss before retiring for the evening, hoping tomorrow would hold no more unpleasant surprises.

* * *

Note to BerryDrops: A happy ending, just like you asked! Next chapter, I can't guarentee, lol.


	4. Chapter 4: The Pool

BIG THANKS to BerryDrops for helping me out on this one! If it wasn't for her, this chapter would have never gone up...

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans

* * *

The others had come home not long after, but Kori had already fallen asleep. She woke up early in the morning, ready to watch the sunrise with Richard as was her normal morning routine, but realized she was no longer at Wayne Manor. Careful not to disturb Rachel and Karen, she crept out the door and knocked lightly at Richard's, right across the hall. If he was awake... 

The door opened, and Richard stumbled out, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Kori? What happened?" She giggled.

"We _always_ get up this early, remember?" she asked. Richard groaned playfully.

"But we're on vacation!"

"Fine. Then I'll just go back to--" She turned and started to walk back to her room, but Richard grabbed her around the waist and spun her around, kissing her softly.

"Well, I'm awake now." He swept Kori into another kiss. "Wanna go to the beach? We never got to that yesterday." Kori nodded, leaning into him as he led her down into the lobby and out on to the sand.

The sun was just rising, and it was amazing to watch on the water. Richard and Kori took off their shoes and left them far away from the ocean as they ran up to the waves, laughing and yelling with surprise as a cold wave wased up on to their bare feet, numbing their toes. Ignoring the freezing water, Richard waded in and splashed Kori, who shrieked and retaliated.

The sun rose completely, and the two teens climbed out of the waves, exhausted and shivering. "C-cold?" asked Richard.

"W-what k-k-kind of ques-stion is that?" she answered. He grinned, pulling her into his arms. Even through the layers of soaked clothing, she could feel the warmth radiating off of him. Kori cuddled in, kissing him breifly. The action warmed them both up immediately, as the fire spread through their veins. Richard pulled her in again, and they stood, making out on the beach, not caring as the tourists began to arrive only to drive away again in disgust.

"We should probably head back," murmured Richard against her lips.

"We probably should," Kori agreed, kissing him harder, hoping they'd never have to leave here. If only their entire vacation could be like this...

She shrieked as the ground beneath her feet disappeared, and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck. Richard laughed, carrying her over to the waves and dropping her in.

"_That_ was for waking me up at the crack of dawn."

Their fighting resumed, and it was well after the sun was high in the sky that either of them made a comment about going back to the hotel. It wasn't exactly the romantic walk Kori had planned, but definitely more fun.

"There they are! Geez, we all thought you'd been kidnapped!" exclaimed Vic as the couple stumbled into the lobby. "Did you have to swim back from the bad guy's hideout or something?" he added, eyeing their wet, sandy clothes. Kori giggled.

"No! I need a shower...and breakfast. Good morning!" she answered cheerily, kissing Richard and darting off. Today was going to be a wonderful day.

How wrong she was.

When she got back down to breakfast, Richard was already there, dressed and ready talking to...Babs. Kori frowned, making her way over to them. Didn't Richard know to stay away from this girl? She'd _kissed_ him last night, for goodness sake, and he already had a girlfriend he cared about. At least, Kori _thought_ he cared about her. She shook her head. Only two days with this Babs girl and she was starting to have her doubts.

On closer inspection, she saw that Richard's face was absolutely expressionless. She had no idea what he was thinking. Then Babs pecked him on the cheek, slipped something in his hand, and hurried off. Kori gasped, not able to believe she could hate a girl she barely knew _this much_. Stalking up to Richard, she frowned again, tapping her foot. Richard held up his hands in surrender.

"Kori, I didn't ask for her to kiss me, just like you didn't ask for Steven to kiss you. People do crazy things, it's not my fault." Kori sighed, glancing at the piece of paper in his hands. He opened it up. "It's her cell phone number. As if I haven't already got it." Kori raised an eyebrow. "That came out wrong. It was from a year ago, Kori, seriously!"

She smiled softly. "I know. I'm just joking around with you, Richard. I already know how much you hate her." He grinned, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm glad you have so much faith in me. Sorry about the over-protectiveness with Steven."

"It's okay. Now come on, I'm going to die of hunger!"

After they met up with the gang and had breakfast, Xavier came over and joined them, sitting too close to Kori for comfort. She scooted on to Richard's lap while he started talking. "Listen, the manager of this place let us have the pool for tonight. We wanted to know if you guys wanted to come with us, a little pool party type thing. A few more of my friends are gonna be there, too." Everyone shrugged. Last night hadn't gone _too_ badly, so they didn't see why tonight should be a problem either.

"Okay," said Vic evenly. Xavier grinned.

"See you there, people." He was gone.

Kori, Richard, Vic, Karen, Rachel, Gar, Alan, Toni, Roy, Nicole, Jenny, and Wally all walked around downtown for the majority of the day; shopping, buying lunch and unecessary snacks, and exploring the mall. They got bored and tired after a few hours, and decided that it was about time to go back, have dinner, and change for the party. Kori grabbed a purple tanktini, trying not to laugh her head off as Karen explained that she'd 'accidentally' removed Rachel's one-piece and replaced it with a navy blue bikini. Rachel's horror-struck look was priceless.

They went downstairs to the pool, where about thirty people, including them, had gathered. Xavier greeted them jovially.

"Lemme introduce the people you don't know. This is Johnny, Billy, Steven, Babs, Malchior, Kitten, Terra, and Donna, whom you've already met, they were with me the first day you guys came here. Then there's Sarah Simms, Sam Morin, and Pam Thompson." He finished all the introductions, and waved everyone over. Kori hung back, somehow managing to glare and smile at Babs at the same time and pulling it off.

Babs stalked off after a while, and Kori slowly dipped her legs into the pool. She felt a huge tug on her feet before she was pulled in completely. When she surfaced, Richard was doubled over in laughter, but he quickly got the idea to start swimming away. He swept by Toni, who was 'oohing' and 'aahing' over Alan's swimming expertise, and Kori followed, accidentally splashing the redhead when she flip-turned to avoid crashing into Alan. "Sorry!" she called over her shoulder, not wanting to stop. Richard was only a few feet away...she had him!

Kori dunked his head under the water, beaming triumphantly. "Mercy!" Richard gasped as se let him up to breathe. Satisfied, Kori let him go. He kissed her quickly and got out of the pool, claiming he had to use the bathroom. Kori splashed around for a little bit, giggling at Rachel's attempts to get Gar to stop staring at her bikini-clad form. She looked a little ways away to see Malchior also eyeing Rachel, and an uncomfortable prickling feeling crawled up her spine. She didn't like Malchior any more than Xavier. The two were best friends, and almost personality twins. She should warn Rachel before something happened.

Richard came back, looking a little bit agitated about something, but he didn't tell Kori what was wrong. He began to tread water, deep in thought, and Kori couldn't get him to do much else. Bored and starting to get wrinkly around her fingertips, she got out of the pool and headed to the bathrooms.

"Kori!" cried a voice. She spun around to see Xavier, looking wild-eyed and shocked about something.

"W-what?" she asked, looking for the nearest exit. She'd rather not be alone with Xavier. Goodness knows she wouldn't make _that_ mistake again.

"This is Babs' cell phone," he said, holding it out to her. Kori was about to ask why she should care, when she saw the message displayed on the screen. It was from Richard. Her eyes widened in horror as she read:

**hey babs. i'm thnkng bout brkng up w/ Anders. Wud u b my GF if i did?**

* * *

Richard was woken by a knocking on his door. Truthfully, he'd been up practically all night, thinking about what Babs had said to him. It didn't mean anything to him, but Richard was the kind of guy who didn't trust himself at all. What if Babs _was_ right? He'd have to do something about it. 

Kori was outside his room door, dressed and ready to go. After a minute of playful flirting, he escorted her to the beach, knowing she'd been dying to go there. He'd wanted to try surfing, but Kori quickly shot down the idea, saying it was far too early and no one would be around to help if he drowned. The beach was only about a five minute walk from the hotel, and the sun was still rising by the time they reached.

After their eyes were stinging from the salt and their clothes so completely soaked it seemed like they'd never be dry again, Kori made an attempt to get out and have Richard follow her. A few attempts later, Richard had finally consented, and they laughed and talked the whole way back.

"Remember when you went on that cruise with Kitten, and I got _so_ jealous?"

Richard made a face. "Don't remind me. That girl's lips are like leeches. They'd never let go. And she's probably a blood-sucking insect, anyway. Remember when I made Gar set up that water-balloon trap and you walked right into it?"

"I completely forgot about that. That was at the beginning of the year, when I had no idea why you hated me."

"Good times...not that they're worse now, they're better, way better!" Richard added hastily, shrinking under his girlfriend's stare.

Showering and changing, he decided to wait for Kori down in the lobby. A very familiar and very unwelcome redhead walked up to him. "Hey, Dick."

"Babs," he answered shortly. "What do you want?"

"You, of course. Oh, come on, cheer up a bit. What's with the long face?"

"Babs, you can't honestly be that stupid. I. Don't. Like. You. You. Shouldn't. Kiss. Guys. That. Aren't. Single. Can I make it any clearer? You nearly gave Kori a heart attack!" Babs rolled her eyes.

"Come _on, _Dick. Don't be so overdramatic. I know you don't like me, and it was because of that mistake I made last year. Don't you think I've seen the error of my ways? I want to be with you, Dick, and I know you don't think you feel that way right now, but it's just because you're hurt. I promise it won't ever happen again, so can't you give me another chance?" She kissed his cheek and slid a paper in his hand. "Call me when you've really thought about it." Richard had to resist the urge to wipe his cheek off with the back of his hand as Babs hurried away.

"Ahem." Kori had showed up, and she did not look happy. Richard shrugged, no exactly sure what to say that would make her _less _mad.

"Kori, I didn't ask for her to kiss me, just like you didn't ask for Steven to kiss you. People do crazy things, it's not my fault," he said soothingly. He opened up the piece of paper Babs had given him. "It's her cell phone number. As if I haven't already got it." Kori raised an eyebrow. "That came out wrong. It was from a year ago, Kori, seriously!"

She smiled softly. "I know. I'm just joking around with you, Richard. I already know how much you hate her." He grinned, pulling her into a hug. Thank goodness Kori knew he was never very good at voicing what he was thinking. Babs would have blown her top in that situation.

Did he really need to list the reasons why Kori was so much better than Babs? He should already know.

"I'm glad you have so much faith in me. Sorry about the over-protectiveness with Steven."

"It's okay. Now come on, I'm going to die of hunger!"

After eating lunch and accepting an invitation from Xavier for a small pool party that night, the gang headed out to explore downtown. Kori, Karen, Toni, and sometimes Nicole (in her own, quiet way) pulled along the rest of the group to tons of shopping places, trying on things they knew they would never buy while the rest stood and groaned. Gar and Rachel separated for a little while, going on their own little 'date' and coming back with a giant stuffed chicken in Rachel's hands.

"Kori?" said Richard softly. She turned to face him, grinning widely after listening to one of Gar's ridiculous jokes.

"Yes?"

"Close your eyes." Kori looked a bit confused, but did as she was told. Richard swept her hair over her shoulder and was pleased to see her shiver slightly as his fingers brushed her bare neck. He drew a newly bought necklace around it, clasping the two ends and brushing her hair back. "Okay." Kori looked down and gasped.

"Richard..." He grinned.

"You like it?"

"I love it." It was very simple, a silver chain with an emerald pendant, but it had cought Richard's eye immediately. He hugged her, kissing her temple.

"Break it up, you two. No PDA!" scolded Wally. Jenny slapped his arm.

"Way to ruin their moment, carrot-top."

"That's my job, honey-bun," he replied cheekily. Jenny blushed horribly, muttering and turning away, while Kori giggled and gave Richard one last, fleeting hug.

"Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

They went back to the hotel a while later, to get ready for the party. The pool wasn't too crowded, but it wasn't exactly that 'small' either. Richard tried to keep his jaw from falling as Kori stepped into the room, looking around for him. It wasn't often that he saw her in anything other than clothes ten sizes too big for her, and even he had to admit, this was a nice change. She caught his eye at last, and he walked up and kissed her.

"Hey."

"Hi."

Out of the corner of his eye, Richard saw Xavier staring over at them, looking disgruntled about something. His focus was lost slightly as Kori kissed his jaw, but he had enough sense left to get her away from Xavier. Putting his cell phone and shirt on a chair, he jumped in the pool and noticed Kori slowly getting on on the other side. Smirking, he swam towards her and pulled her all the way under, laughing as she shrieked. He used to love playing those kinds of pranks on her. Some things never changed.

Kori surfaced, spitting out water and glaring through her now damp fiery locks. Richard swam as fast as he could away, but was stopped by Alan, so Kori caught up and dunked him under.

After she let go, he got out of the pool and headed towards the bathroom so he could wash the chlorine-ish taste out of his mouth. He hated that stuff. However, he noticed his shirt on the floor, and the chair otherwise completely empty.

"Where's my cell phone?"

* * *

PDA: public display of affection 

The text Babs got: Hey Babs. I'm thinking about breaking up with Anders (Kori). Would you be my girlfriend if I did?

You guys probably already know that, but just in case :)

Thanks again to BerryDrops, and CERTiFiED02 for helping me out with the next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5: The Decision

I'm so sorry, this chapter took FOREVER to get up, but at least it's semi-long...Thanks again to **CERTiFiED02** for helping me with this one!

Also, thank you to **Royalfire14, Black Raven 13, Kory Anders Grayson, RoseXxxXThorn, gothchik18, BerryDrops, cartoonstar, FaerieAngelx3o, Koriand'r Grayson, cartoonfire, CERTiFiED02, ToOcOLfOrU, Ariel34652, SaoirseWaveglow, RavenSis, caresse345, **and** Starsoffire **for reviewing!!!!!!!!!!! You guys are the reason this story keeps going :)

Disclaimer: I don't own TT or Oreos but I do own that play and the restaurant...I made them up...sorry if they actually exist in real life, I had no idea...

* * *

Kori had walked up to the roof of the hotel the next morning, sighing the whole way. She'd been unable to sleep all night, just thinking about that text. Had Richard really meant it? Was he really going to break up with her for Babs? What had she done wrong? 

Somehow, the sunrise didn't look quite as beautiful without Richard here beside her. She sat there, nevertheless, just thinking in the early morning peace. Dawn was probably the only time she had to herself here. Not even Richard bothered to wake up this early on vacation.

The door to the roof opened. "Kori?"

Scratch that.

"Richard," she answered, her voice coming out more bitter than she had intended to make it. Her boyfriend came and sat next to her in silence for a little while.

"Something wrong?" How could he even ask that question? Of course something was wrong, he was the cause of it. Kori merely shrugged. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something." Kori held her breath. Here it comes. She wasn't ready. "Do you know where my cell phone is?"

She frowned. That was unexpected. "What?"

"My cell."

"Lost it while you were texting Babs, did you?" Kori blurted out angrily. Richard recoiled, and she immediately felt bad.

"What are you talking about? I never texted Babs."

"Yes, you did. Or do you not remember? You texted her saying you were going to break up with me for her." There. It was out in the open. She waited for Richard's admittance while staring out at the water in anger. She felt Richard's warm hand entwine itself with hers, and tried to pull away, but he held on tightly.

"Kori, who told you that?" he asked softly.

"I saw it. On her phone screen at last night's party. If you are, then just do it," she answered shakily. Richard cupped her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Kori, I _lost_ my cell phone at last night's party. I swear I never texted anyone, let alone Babs. Don't you believe me?"

"But I saw it," Kori whispered, her voice still shaky. She wouldn't put it past herself to cry herself out of tears if Richard really did break up with her. "I saw it on her phone screen. Xavier showed me." Richard stared at her for a minute, and then pulled her into a hug.

"Kori..."

She bit her lip, burying her head in his shoulder. "Richard, promise me you won't leave me."

"Of course I won't." They stayed that way for a while, watching the sunrise together, until it was high in the sky. Then Richard got up, pulling her up with him. Kori looked away, embarrassed at having been acting so clingy. She couldn't help her fear of losing him, like she'd lost her parents and Koma. Richard kissed her, an understanding smile on his face when he pulled away. "Kori, let's go out tonight somewhere. Just you and me."

"What about everyone else? They might not be able to handle keeping themselves together without us there. They'd blow the hotel up." Richard laughed, wrapping an arm around her waist as he led her back down to their rooms.

"Well, they're gonna have to deal for tonight." Kori leaned into his embrace, sighing happily. Tonight would be just about them. And definitely _not_ Babs.

Karen and Rachel looked rather upset about something when she got back, but they said nothing of it. Kori hadn't talked to them last night, pretending to be asleep when they come back up. "What do you guys want to do today, then?" Kori asked brightly.

"We are going _nowhere_ near Xavier and his gang," Karen spat bitterly. Kori was about to question why, but was silenced by Rachel shaking her head.

"Oh...okay, that's fine with me. I heard there's a theater downtown, and I'm sure everyone would like it."

"What's the play?" asked Rachel.

"I have no idea. It's new, I think. What do you say?" Karen shrugged, and Rachel agreed to it, as long as it wasn't upbeat and sappy. Kori went around the rooms, asking for everyone's approval, and they were all game to try it. When she reached Richard, Vic, and Gar's, she was pulled into a _very _passionate make out session before she had a chance to get a word out. Richard had pushed her against a wall, kissing her harder, until she recoverd enough from the shock to pull away.

"Richard?" His eyes widened, his lips still half-puckered, and he looked like a fish. Kori giggled, kissing him again. "Are you okay?"

"'Course not, but I've been stuck in here with--"

"Dick? What in the world are you doing to that wall...oh, it's Kori. Hey, li'l lady, how's it going?" said Vic, his disturbed expression gradually fading as he saw Kori peek out from behind Richard's head.

"Good," squeaked Kori, her voice still returning after practically being sucked out by Richard's mouth. "I was wondering if...oh...I forgot..." Richard grinned.

"Maybe I can help you remember?"

"Maybe," answered Kori, grinning back.

"No, he can't, not in front of me, anyway." Gar appeared, looking as ticked off as Karen had been.

"Will you people stop yelling?" he growled. Kori's eyes bugged out. Someone had woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

"Hey, it's okay, Gar, Kori was just gonna tell us something." Kori was about to ask what was wrong, but got the same look from Vic as she had from Rachel. Apparently, there was something going on that she didn't know about. Turning to Richard, she sent him a questioning glance, but he shrugged.

"Oh, I remember. There's a theater downtown, and we all wanted to go. Did you want to come?" Vic shrugged and Gar scowled, looking away. "I'll take that as a yes..."

When they all gathered downstairs, Kori spotted Karen and Rachel standing far away from Vic and Gar. Frowning, she wondered what was up with them, but then Richard came by and, moving her hair out of the way, kissed her neck. "Ready to go?" Kori nodded.

It was about a ten minute walk downtown, and another ten minutes to get to the theater. The play was called _Viper_...or something of that sort. It was about a man who worked in the 'underground,' with criminals and such. There was a lot of action, with a lot of romance tied in. Kori was hooked the entire time, thought the scenery and the acting could have been better. She was focused on the storyline.

They play lasted about two hours, and at the end, the man was killed by his criminal mastermind ex-girlfriend who caught him with the other main character of the story, another criminal mastermind. Slightly disappointed, Kori filed out of the theater along with everyone else.

"Oookay..." Rachel summed up. Everyone burst into laughter, besides Gar. He looked away, kicking a stone down the street and watching it bounce away. Kori made a mental note to go and see what was bothering him later.

Again, the friends spent the day downtown together, but headed back at five. Kori was in a wonderful mood, only slightly spoiled by Richard, who'd been talking to her about Babs for a second, and couldn't wait until her dinner date with Richard. They weren't going anywhere special, but she didn't care.

Emerging from her room a few minutes later in jeans and a polo, Kori made her way down to the ground floor, where Richard was waiting for her. He kissed her, whispering, "You look beautiful."

"I didn't do anything special."

He grinned. "You _always_ look beautiful." Kori blushed.

Richard led her out to the R-cycle, and they climbed on, grabbing one of the two helmets. They reached a restaurant called _Fiesta! _and Richard got off, helping Kori though it was unecessary.

It was a nice place, rather warm, but cheerful-looking. They were led to a booth, and sat down, ordering quickly.

"So," started Richard. He was about to say more, when Kori groaned.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." Babs was talking to a waitress, pointing at their table. The two could hear her all the way from over there.

"I'm with them."

* * *

_Flashback_

_"Hey, Gar? Where's Kori? She said she was going to the bathroom, did you see her?" asked Richard worriedly. Gar looked put out by somethingas he came back from the bathroom, but nodded._

_"She went up to the room. I guess she forgot something, 'cause she looked a little flustered." Richard nodded, deciding he'd wait for her down there. Not five minutes later, all of his friends came out, half looking guilty, and the other half looking extremely upset. Only Angelina and Alan seemed as confused as he was, holding hands and whispering to each other in hushed, worried tones. Wally and Jenny were nowhere to be found, probably missing the memo that everyone was out here and making out on the pool deck somewhere._

_"We're going back to our rooms." It was practically an order coming from Karen. No one dared to disagree._

_Richard had never seen Karen so angry, nor Vic so meek. Something had obviously happened between them. He didn't dare intrude in Karen's room, though, so seeing Kori would have to wait until morning._

_End Flashback_

Richard woke up extra early, hoping Kori would be up as well. It was past six, he was late for the sunrise, but he might as well check up there anyway.

Kori was there when he'd arrived, slouching over and hugging her knees to her chest. "Kori?"

Her shoulders slumped visibly. "Richard," she answered. She didn't sound happy to see him. He walked over and sat down next to her, not really paying much attention to the sunrise. It was times like these when he remembered the reason he came up to see it every morning: just because it made Kori look more radiant than usual.

"Something wrong?" he asked, studying her troubled visage. Kori shrugged. Remembering last night's events, he decided to ask if she knew anything about it. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something. Do you know where my cell phone is?"

She looked startled, obviously expecting something else. "What?"

"My cell," he clarified. Her demeanor turned decidedly stormy.

"Lost it while you were texting Babs, did you?" she growled. He frowned.

"What are you talking about? I never texted Babs."

"Yes, you did. Or do you not remember? You texted her saying you were going to break up with me for her." Richard gaped at her. He hadn't been planning to break up with Kori, last time he checked. Breaking up was an unspeakable topic for them. And for Babs? Puh-lease. Kori knew that. So how did this whole misunderstanding happen? He held on to her hand, ignoring her attempt to pull it away.

"Kori, who told you that?" he asked softly.

"I saw it. On her phone screen at last night's party. If you are, then just do it," she answered shakily. He'd never seen her like this, so completely insecure. Not even after her parents died. Richard cupped her chin and forced her to look at him.

"Kori, I _lost_ my cell phone at last night's party. I swear I never texted anyone, let alone Babs. Don't you believe me?"

"But I saw it," Kori whispered, her voice still shaky. "I saw it on her phone screen. Xavier showed me." Richard stared at her for a minute, connecting the dots, and then pulled her into a hug.

"Kori..." How could she believe Xavier over him in something like this? It was obvious, really. Xavier had taken his cell, and Babs' as well, and texted the message on to Babs's phone.

She buried her head in his shoulder. "Richard, promise me you won't leave me." He caressed her cheek affectionately, wondering how she thought he could ever do so.

"Of course I won't." They stayed that way for a while, watching the sunrise together, until it was high in the sky. Then Richard got up, pulling her up with him. Kori looked away. Richard kissed her, an understanding smile on his face when he pulled away. Kori's fear of losing him made sense, he reasoned. He'd been there for her through her darkest times, and it was only natural she was afraid to let him go. He'd had the same feeling about Alfred, only in a father-son kind of way, a few weeks after his own parents had passed away. "Kori, let's go out tonight somewhere. Just you and me."

"What about everyone else? They might not be able to handle keeping themselves together without us there. They'd blow the hotel up." Richard laughed, glad to have her sounding normal again. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he led her back down to their rooms.

"Well, they're gonna have to deal for tonight."

He went back to his room after breakfast, where Gar and Vic were awake and not acting as usual. Richard was going to ask about it, but decided against it. If it was something big, they'd tell him, right?

There was a knock on his door, and Richard opened it, groaning when he saw who it was. "Hello, Babs," he greeted dully.

"It's nice to see you too. I just came to give this back." She handed him his cell phone. He scowled at her.

"Had your fun with it, did you? You nearly gave Kori a heart attack for the second time!" Babs cocked her head in a very Kori-like fashion.

"What're you talking about, Dick?"

"Stop trying to play stupid. I know you and Xavier planned the whole thing out. If you _ever_ pull something like that again, then I will personally rip you and Xavier both limb from limb, you got it? I don't ever want to see Kori that hurt again," he snarled. Babs was unperturbed.

"Dick, you don't understand. It's entirely for your own good! Do you honestly think she's better for you then I am? What does she have that I haven't got?"

"Shut up. It's for _your_ good, not mine. If you really cared about me, you'd leave me alone. Of course she's better for me, at least she knows when to stop." He slammed the door in her face. Vic let out a low whistle.

"Harsh much?"

"She deserves it."

There was another knock at the door, and Richard opened it up, ready to yell at Babs again, but saw Kori. Hoping Babs was watching, he pulled Kori to him and furiously began making out with her.

_Better for me? Babs has got to be kidding me. Nothing can compare with this. She's such a good kisser, _he thought absently, slipping his tongue into her mouth. Richard had never gone so far with Kori before, afraid of her thinking him like a certain spiky-haired drug addict, but this was overwhelming. He just wanted more.

"Richard?" Kori asked confusedly, pulling away. _She always did know when to stop_. He still thought he was kissing her for minute, but hastily covered it up while Kori laughed at him. She kissed him quickly. "Are you okay?" He rolled his eyes.

"'Course not, I've been stuck with--"

"Dick?" came Vic's apprehesive voice. "What in the world are you doing to that wall?" Kori peeked out from around Richard's head, and he turned, too. "...Oh. It's Kori. Hey, li'l lady, how's it going?"

About an hour later, everyone had gathered in a theater downtown to watch a new play. The theater was decent, more like a movie theater with a stage, but the acting was cheesy. Kori was on the edge of her seat the entire time, squeezing the life out of Richard's hand. The only thing that Richard got out of the play was that he'd better watch his ex-girlfriends, or they may come back and kill him.

Funny, that's exactly what Kitten and Babs looked like they were trying to do. Or rather, get rid of Kori.

Once that connection was made, his mind raced. They wouldn't go _too_ far, obviously, so Kori wouldn't get physically hurt (he hoped). But still, it was obvious Babs, Kitten and Xavier were trying to break them up. Avoiding them wasn't going to work. They were on the same floor of the same hotel. If he couldn't _beat _them...

Richard pulled Kori aside while the rest of the girls were fixedly staring at some piece of jewelery in a shop window. "Yes?" Kori asked.

"Kori...how far do you think Babs would go to break us apart?" At this, Kori tore her eyes away from that necklace.

"I don't know, Richard, I've never seen her before. You know her better then me. Why are you asking?" He thought back to the final scene of the play.

"No reason. But...do you think it'd bebetter if we didn't _openly _hate her? She might lay off a bit." Kori frowned.

"You want to be friends with her."

"No, aquiantences. There's a difference."

His girlfriend shrugged. "I don't mind. Hopefully, she _will _lay off. Like I said, you know her better than I do. It would be better if we could all be friends, I really don't think much of having to hate her. She must have been a nice person at some point. But I respect your decision, Richard. Whatever you think should be done is fine." Richard smiled. At least it wouldn't get on Kori's nerves.

There was another, small reason at the back of his mind. Maybe _now_ Babs would be able to see how happy he was with Kori, and that he didn't need her at all. She was peristant, he'd give her that, but it was starting to get really, really annoying. This was worth a shot.

When they got back to the hotel, Richard went into his room to change, and then inconspicuously slid over to Babs's room and knocked. She opened the door, seeming surprised at the fact that he'd come calling. Then a rather smug smile adorned her face. "Hey Dick."

"Babs." He took a deep breath, and tried to force the words to come out. "I'm...sorry...about the way I've been acting. Last year's over and done, and you know as well as I do that you'll never take the chance, not that one will ever come up, to do that again."

"You and Kori got into a fight?" Babs guessed.

"No. She thinks it's better to be friends with you rather than hate you, and I guess I agree." Babs looked slightly put out for a second, but then shrugged.

"Okay. Doesn't look like you two do anything more than talk, does it?" Richard raised an eyebrow. Had she never seen him kiss Kori? They were at it almost half the day.

"No, we're going out tonight, actually."

"Where to?"

_Why would she try to make conversation? Shouldn't she be inside her room plotting my demise right now? _"Nowhere fancy, just a little restaurant about five minutes away. You might have seen it if you've been downtown. 'Fiesta' I think it's called."

"That's nice. Listen, I'm actually a little busy at the moment, so I'll talk to you later, okay?" He glanced down at his watch. It was time for him to go, too.

He headed downstairs, where he was supposed to meet Kori, and waited until she showed up. Man, was she a sight for sore eyes. Especially since he'd had to talk to Babs not long ago. He kissed her and whispered, "You look beautiful."

"I didn't do anything special," Kori said, frowning and running a hand through her hair. Richard grinned.

"You _always_ look beautiful." She blushed, and he couldn't help but feel a bit proud.

They reached the restaurant on the R-cycle, and dismounted. When they had sat down and ordered, though, Kori groaned. For a second, Richard thought she was sick, but then he followed her line of vision to see Babs at the door of the restaurant. "You have _got_ to be kidding me."

He could hear Babs all the way from there, telling the waitress that she was with him and Kori. She walked over to them and sat awfully close to Richard, smiling widely. "Hey, you guys. Dick was telling me about the restaurant, so I figured I'd drop in, too. You don't mind, right?"

"Not at all," Kori grunted, scooting closer to Richard. He felt like the cream of an Oreo. _So much for our night out alone._

They sat in a very awkward silence, while Babs just beamed at them. The food arrived, and Babs said she'd already eaten. Kori leaned over and whispered in Richard's ear, "Are you sure we shouldn't get her anything? I could pay for it, if you wanted, but it looks impolite."

"Kori, you do no how rude it is to hold a private conversation about someone in front of that person, right?" said Babs sternly. Kori blinked. "Dick would know. Bruce always raised him to be extremely respectful. Do you remember that time when we were out on a date and you were furious because the waiter was hitting on me, but you said that it'd be rude to leave before we ate?"

"Um...no?" Richard tried. Kori shrunk away from him, and he groaned inwardly. Having dinner with his girlfriend and his ex-girlfriend was awkward enough, but this was just torture.

Babs kept talking about memories she'd had from when Richard and her had been dating, and Kori was just eating quietly. When she retold the memory of some kiss or other, Kori nearly choked on a bean, and Richard went into panic mode, fully ready to preform the Heimlich if necessary. "You okay?" he asked, rubbing her back. Kori nodded, and he hoped she had caught his I-hate-this-just-as-much-as-you-do look. This was getting out of hand.

He kissed her for a long moment, until she pulled away. "Richard, we shouldn't..." she whispered, throwing a pointed glance at Babs.

"I know." He kissed her again, longer, and felt her smile against his lips. Then, Babs tapped him on the shoulder.

"Geez, and I thought you two were listening." Richard was about ready to pull his hair out in frustration. When someone is KISSING someone else, NO ONE should interrupt. Maybe Babs was more thickheaded than she appeared, or she really was out to get them.

Kori sighed, moving away and finishing her food. Richard felt horrible, having Babs follow them here. He should never had told her where they were going. Tonight was supposed to be _his and Kori's _night, especially after all that had happened.

He stood up. "Kori, come on, let's go." Babs got up as well.

"Oh, good, are you heading back too? I'll just come along, okay?" Richard sighed, and Kori said nothing, getting up and following him out. Babs had brought along Xavier's car, and she was nearly bumping their tail the entire time.

"Kori, we're going for a ride!" richard yelled over the roaring wind. He felt Kori squeeze him tightly as her only response, and he turned the wrong way so they could ride a little longer. His cell phone started ringing; Babs was calling him to see what he was doing. She was still following them in her car. Kori reached into his pocket and turned his phone off.

"That's better," she giggled in his ear. He chuckled, driving a little faster.

They ended up back at the hotel after a long while, and Babs stepped out of the car, looking more than a little angry. "What were you two thinking?"

Richard shrugged, trying not to laugh. "We just went for a little ride. Kori loves my motorcycle almost as much as I do."

Babs huffed. "Oh yeah, I remember the rides we used to take on it, they were amazing." Richard raised an eyebrow.

"Babs, you hated the bike. You were afraid of falling off."

"Looking back, Dick. Of course I was scared, we were kids, and you'd just gotten your driver's permit." Richard rolled his eyes.

"Okay, then...roof, Kori?" Richard asked gallantly. Kori giggled, taking the hand he'd offered.

"Very well."

"What's going on up there?" asked Babs. "Do you mind if I come with? Just to see what you guys are always doing up there."

"Couple stuff, Babs," Richard answered. "Stuff we don't want to be interrupted in."

Babs waved it off. "Oh, you'll barely know I'm there. I'm quieter than a mouse when I want to be, you know that, Dick." Kori consented, so Richard did as well. Babs followed them into the elevator, not noticing the exasperated looks Kori and Richard were exchanging. They had to walk up one flight of steps to reach the roof, as the elevator did go all the way there. Richard opened the door and held it for both of the girls. "Thanks, Dick. Always the gentleman," Babs joked.

"I'm kind of the only guy here." He sat next to Kori, bringing her close, and she leaned on to his shoulder. He kissed her forehead, whispering, "It's a whole lot better today, isn't it?" Kori nodded. The sunset certainly was colorful, more colorful than daybreak, anyway.

"So you sit here for a half hour while the sun comes up?" Babs asked skeptically. "Dick, when we were dating, you had so much better ways to spend your time. What happened to you?" Richard ignored her, hugging Kori more tightly. He really wished he didn't have to spend a month with Babs following him around everywhere. One day and he'd already gone crazy.

* * *

Um, yeah...anyway, how about a preview? 

"Richard? You want to watch a movie? Vic and Gar went out in town and brought this back," Kori asked. Richard sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I can't, Kori, sorry. Babs already asked me to go somewhere today, she didn't tell me where. I'll ask if you can come to." He made to move away, but Kori held him back.

"It's fine. Maybe when you come back. You're taking this friendship thing awfully seriously, aren't you?"

Richard looked oddly hesitant as he replied, "Yeah...you know me."

Kori laughed. "I wish. I'll never understand you. Come back soon?" He nodded, kissing her quickly.

"See you later."


	6. Chapter 6: The Fortune

thanks to all you guys who reviewed!

Disclaimer: I own nothing at all.

* * *

"Hey, Kori!" called a voice. The redhead turned around, smiling when she saw Steven.

"Hey."

"I'm so sorry I haven't been able to talk this entire vacation. I've been pretty busy, moving my stuff into Xavier's house and everything. I'm going to college here," he explained. "How've you been? We have a lot of catching up to do. I heard from Xavier your life's becaome a roller coaster."

Kori scrunched up her nose. "Xavier said that?"

Steven laughed. "Yeah. I didn't get much else out of him, though, he was pretty mad at you."

"He would be. But it was just the month after we came home from the ski trip, and I found out my parent's plane had crashed when they were coming back from France. I don't know why, but I ran all the way to Richard's for help, and we were actually friends for a while, believe it or not. Remember how we used to hate each other? But then we got into this big misunderstanding, and I ran away from him, and ended up on the southside. I had no idea Xavier lived there. But he cornered me, and...if it hadn't been for Richard finding me, I have no idea what would have happened. But we made up after that, and now we're dating," Kori recalled evenly. Steven's eyes were wide as saucers by the end.

"Wow."

"Yeah," Kori sighed. Steven scratched the back of his neck, trying to process all that information.

"I'm sorry Xavier put you through so much. He used to be a good kid, he just started hanging out with the wrong crowd. But I've never heard about him hurting someone else before." The two were walking aimlessly down the hallways, and paused at Richard's room. "Maybe we can do something later, Kori, you know, just get together and talk." Kori nodded, smiling.

"Maybe not today, Richard and I had something planned tonight, but how about tomorrow?"

"Sounds great." Steven flashed her a smile. "I'll see you later then, Kori."

He left, and Kori knocked on Richard's door. From inside, she heard scuffling sounds, and to her surprise, Babs opened it. "Babs?" she asked, confused. What would that _thing_ be doing here? Richard appeared as well, looking hassled.

"Hey, Kori, is something wrong?"

_Besides the fact that you've got your ex-girlfriend in your room and it doesn't sound like you two were talking? No, not really_. "No, everything's fine. I...I just...um, nevermind, I forgot." Richard frowned.

"Okay. Listen, Babs, I'll meet you downstairs, alright?" Babs nodded and left, but not before smirking at Kori, something she was sure Richard had missed. Kori bit her lip, disconcerted, and waited for an explanation. "Sorry, she just came knocking at five o'clock and asked if I wanted to go up and watch the sunrise. It was kind of weird. I just told her that it wouldn't be up for another hour, and she came in and slept on the couch, and none of us woke up."

Kori was not appeased. "I figured you didn't want to be bothered about that anymore, so I left you alone."

Richard gave a small half-smile. "I was kinda tired, I guess. Yesterday was pretty frustrating." Kori shrugged, holding up the DVD she'd brought with her.

"Richard? You want to watch a movie? Vic and Gar went out in town and brought this back," Kori asked. Richard sighed, running a hand through his hair. Kori didn't take that to mean he was going to agree.

"I can't, Kori, sorry. Babs already asked me to go somewhere today, she didn't tell me where. I'll ask if you can come, too." He made to move away, but Kori held him back.

"It's fine. Maybe when you come back. You're taking this friendship thing awfully seriously, aren't you?"

Richard looked oddly hesitant as he replied, "Yeah...you know me."

Kori forced a laugh. "I wish. I'll never understand you. Come back soon?" He nodded, kissing her quickly.

"See you later." He hurried off, and Kori went to look for Steven. Looks like she had today free after all.

She found him in his room, straightening up, of all things. Were all of the guys she knew neat freaks? Laughing, she stepped in, only amused further by his confused look. "Hey Steven. Richard cancelled, actually, so...if you weren't busy..." He straightened.

"No, just cleaning. I can always make time for you, Kori. There's a nice little restaurant with a view of the ocean in the hotel, maybe you and your friends could come with me?"

"Sure. But, honestly, Steven, the place looks clean enough already. I'm pretty sure they have a maid service to spruce it up, you don't have to." He shrugged, taking a napkin and carefully wiping the smudges off of the glasss covering a painting. Giggling to herself, Kori left to find something to amuse herself while waiting for lunch.

At exactly noon, Steven came knocking on her door. Karen and Rachel, who would be going with her, finished getting ready as they stepped out. "Hey, Kori, Karen, Rachel. This is Harry and Hot Spot, two of my friends from Jump City." To Kori, the two looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't place where she'd seen them before.

"Hot Spot?" Karen asked interestedly. He grinned at her.

"Yeah, I get asked that from a lot of people. Temper." Karen nodded in understanding.

"Yeah, Sparky's my boyfriend's nickname, but I'm not exactly sure where that came...from..." Her voice gradually died down, and Kori realized she'd forgotten to ask what was bothering Karen so much. Rachel touched her shoulder and gave her a look that said, very clearly, "Later."

"This is Donna," said Steven. "Another really good friend of mine." A raven-haired girl stepped out from behind them, and smiled.

"Hey."

The introductions done, the group headed downstairs to go and eat. In the elevator, they were surprised to find Richard and Babs. "Um...hi," said Richard, looking uncomfortable. Kori avoided his gaze, scooting subconsciously farther away from Steven.

"Hey, Dick. Where are you going?" asked Steven.

"Nowhere, just back up to my room," he answered. He glanced at Harry and Hot Spot, an unreadable expression on his face. Then, it was like a lightbulb had appeared over his head. "Harry! Hot Spot! It's nice to meet you guys again."

"Dick Grayson, right? Richie Rich boy who didn't know his way out of the southside?" Hot Spot joked. Richard flushed.

"Yeah." It all clicked for Kori. She'd seen these boys when she was running away from Richard to go and comfort Rachel while she'd been under the impression Richard and Rachel had been dating. "Hey, Kori, are you going to be busy for the next few hours?"

Kori shrugged. "Probably. The six of us are going to go eat lunch, and maybe head out somewhere." Richard looked put out, but quickly nodded. Kori saw the silhouettes of his eyes dart towards Steven once, and then back at her.

"Okay then, maybe we can watch that movie at night?" The elevator dinged open, and Steven, Harry, Hot Spot, Karen, and Rachel filed out. Kori just nodded at her boyfriend and followed them. While they were walking to the restaurant, Steven fell behind to talk to her.

"Problems with Dick?"

She shrugged. "It's nothing important."

Steven smiled sadly. "You know I'm always here if you need me." Gratefully, Kori hugged him before sitting down.

The restaurant was rather fancy, but then again, so was everything else at this hotel. They had more knives, forks, and spoons than Kori knew what to do with. Karen was chatting animatedly with Hot Spot, far happier than Kori had seen her yesterday or today. Harry was showing Rachel and Donna how to hold the trumpet properly, and what valves should be pushed down to make what notes. It was the first time Kori had heard him talk.

"So, Kori, how was school? Did you pass?" asked Steven. Kori shook her head solemnly.

"No. I failed everything, but in math I got a D plus." Steven looked like he believed her, and she laughed. "I'm just joking. I did well. How about you? You said you're going to college here, right?" Steven laughed with her.

"Yeah. I had to work at the ski lodge for a year to earn some money, because my parents are dirt poor and both work in the army. I'm hoping to become a scientist. It's been a dream of mine since I was little." Kori didn't want to say it, but Steven had looked a lot older than nineteen when she'd first met him. Possibly because he was insanely _buff_. It was no wonder, with both his parents in the army, he might have worked out with them, too.

They ordered their food, trying not to be tempted by the more expensive things on the menu. Steven finally came up with the idea that they order _one_ steak to split and six salads. Everything was absolutely delicious, and Kori had a lot more fun on this lunch 'date' than her last dinner date with Richard.

"What do you say we all head over to the courts downstairs and play some basketball?" suggested Hot Spot. Everyone agreed, and decided the teams would be boys versus girls. It was classic, and the girls always won in the past. Rachel refused to play, sitting in the grass and claiming she was the ref.

Steven checked the ball to Karen, and she bounced it back. The redhead looked for someone open and tried to pass it to Harry, but Kori intercepted it and easily made the shot from the free throw line. The boys were impressed. "Well, well. Looks like we can't go easy on you anymore," remarked Hot Spot cockily.

"Yeah, then we won't go this easy either," Karen replied. The boy grinned, checking it to Kori and then, on recieving it, dribbled up to the net for a lay-up. Just as he was about to throw, however, Karen jumped as well and knocked the ball out of the air towards Donna. The brunette dribbled it past a very shocked Hot Spot and dunked it. The girls laughed at the stupified expressions on the boys's faces, and even Rachel smirked a bit.

"Score: Girls kicking your guys's butts," Rachel clarified, in case there was any doubt. Harry glared at her.

Five minutes in, they decided to switch up the teams a little bit, because the score was then ten to nothing. Steven and Donna were team captains, and they were just about to choose, when Richard walked on to the court. "Mind if I..." Babs walked on as well. He looked like he was fighting back a groan, and corrected himself. "Mind if _we _join in?"

No one objected, so Steven chose Kori, Hot Spot, and Karen. Babs, Richard, and Harry were on Donna's team. Karen was amazing at defense, having had to play Vic so much. Kori was the best at shooting, and often got passed to just for that. Steven and Hot Spot mostly did the checking and passing, marveling at how good these girls were.

Richard was easily the best all around player on the other team, but Harry was a close second. Babs wasn't half bad, though Kori hated to admit it. The score was tying up a lot, and the game was so interesting even Rachel stopped drifting off into space to watch. The only thing annoying to everyone, though, were Babs's constant cheers whenever Richard had the ball. Kori would steel herself to ignore them, especially the high fives afterwards where Babs would hold his hand. She knew she was making a big deal out of almost nothing, but she didn't like it.

She was about to make another shot to tie the game, Richard came up from behind her and whispered in her ear, "The view's nice from back here." She missed the shot and her whole team groaned.

"That shouldn't be allowed!" Kori said, her voice shrill and her face very, very red. Richard laughed and grabbed her around the waist.

"Come on, Kori, you know you liked it." He pecked her on the cheek and she couldn't help laughing with him. Rachel contemplated it.

"Team Redd gets a penalty shot. One more perverted comment, Grayson, and your team forfeits." Richard opened his mouth to argue, but Kori shushed him with firm kiss. "And if you question my decision, Grayson, you'll get your team disqualified, too."

"Aw, Kori, you should have let him talk!" joked Karen. Kori shrugged, smiling widely, and walked back to the free throw line, swaying her hips far more than necessary. She looked back to see Richard glaring at her with his hand clapped over his mouth. Giggling, she made the penalty shot with ease.

They all decided to have a break, having played for an hour or more. Richard grabbed Kori's hand and pulled her into his lap while he sat on the grass. "One day without talking to you and I'm going nuts," he muttered in her ear. Kori smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his temple.

"Maybe we can make up for that right now?" she asked hopefully.

He grinned. "Maybe."

She as about to kiss him again when Babs kneeled down next to them. "Hey, Dick, it's time for us to go." Richard pulled away, sending an annoyed glance at Babs before pecking Kori on the lips lightly. He scooted her off his lap and got up.

"Yeah, fine."

"Where are you going?" asked Kori, frowning. Richard sighed apologetically.

"Babs wanted to show me this place on the pier. We'll be back around eight, Kori." Kori nodded, sighing as well and getting up.

"Is the break over? We are _so_ gonna kick your butts this time!" exclaimed Donna.

"We're switching teams again, Donna. They've got to go somewhere," said Kori, a lot more bitterly than she'd intended.

"A date?" asked Donna. Kori noticed suddenly how very quiet it was. Of course Donna wouldn't know that Richard wasn't single. But Kori still nearly growled when Babs nodded.

"You could call it that." Richard frowned at his ex-girlfriend, shaking his head. "Just joking, Dick. Relax."

Kori went over to the basket and just practiced shooting, refusing to go back until Richard and Babs had left, and ignoring Richard calling her name. Afterwards, Kori and Rachel decided it was best to head back inside, but Karen stayed out with Hot Spot, Donna, and Harry a little while longer. Steven walked Kori and Rachel back, not waning to talk in front of the Gothic girl.

Now in a bad mood, Kori sulked around the hotel room while Rachel read, finding the shoe polisher to be rather amusing. Still, it got old after a while, and she ended up watching T.V.

She felt horrible for being angry at Richard, mainly because he'd spent so much time and money on her. She'd feel guilty just throwing that back in his face, and if it had been anyone else, anyone less caring or less kind or less generous or less loving or... She groaned, flopping back on the bed. Why did he have to be so utterly perfect? Why couldn't she be stuck with someone who didn't care, someone she could get mad at and stay mad at if they did something wrong?

Eight o'clock arrived, and still Richard wasn't back. Vic and Gar had left for the arcade, claiming they were going to stay there all night. Kori slipped into Richard's room, waiting quietly for him to come back. She turned on the light and watched some more T.V. This could take a while.

Around eleven, Kori was startled awake, not realizing when she'd fallen asleep. "Kori?" Richard asked, probably surprised to find her there. She rubbed her eyes, noticing Babs right behind him. "What are you doing here? It's really late."

"Waiting for you," she mumbled. "We were going to watch a movie together, remember?" Judging by the look on his face, he _had_ remembered, but hadn't done anything about coming back to the hotel on time.

"Sorry, Kori, I didn't know you'd wait. Go to sleep now, okay? We'll watch it later." She got up, swaying tiredly on the spot, but pulling away when Richard tried to steady her.

"No, forget it. I'll just ask Steven to watch it with me, he wanted to see it, too." She was being cruel, but she was tired and angry. Richard's shoulders slumped, but he nodded and looked away. "'Night." She stumbled out of the room, desperately trying not to pass out on the floor. Then she realized she'd forgotten her DVD.

Behind her, she heard Babs saying, "Hey, Dick, you wanna watch this movie with me?"

* * *

"Dick? Dick, open the door," called Babs. Richard groaned, crawling out of bed and enviously eyeing Gar and Vic, who'd slept through Babs's constant knocking. He wished he wasn't such a light sleeper. "Dick? Are you there?" she asked. Richard staggered to the door, and opened it. 

"Whaddyawant?" Babs giggled, shaking her head.

"If I knew you'd be so funny in the morning, I'd always wake you up this early."

This was of no importance to him. "Is there an emergency?"

"No. Not that I know of."

"Then let me sleep." He was about to close the door on her, but she stuck her foot in.

"Wait a second. Aren't you going to go and watch the sunrise or whatever? I just wanted to come with you." Richard sighed wearily, glancing at the alarm clock near his bed. It read 5:07. He felt faint. He _never_ got up this early.

"Not for another hour. Now can you _please_ just let me sleep? I have to go out with Kori today, and I don't want to be tired." Babs pouted.

"But I thought you'd be with me today. You promised, remember?" Richard frowned, trying to recall that particular promise. Surely he wouldn't be stupid enough to cancel on Kori, right? "Just yesterday. You must be too tired to remember, Dick."

"Yeah, maybe." He ran his hand through his hair. "If that's all..."

"Do you mind if I cap out here for an hour or two? My room's on the other side of the hotel, and I forgot the keys, and Donna and Sarah are probably still sleeping," Babs asked innocently. Richard shrugged, stepping aside to let her in. "Can I take the couch?" He nodded, not even remembering stumbling back into bed and falling asleep again.

He was woken by Babs falling off the couch and scrambling to her feet again. Getting out of bed and making as much noise as possible to disturb Vic and Gar (and failing) he walked over to the door Babs had just opened to see Kori with a very confused expression. "Hey, Kori, is something wrong?"

Kori shifted uncomfortably, eyeing him, and then Babs. "No, everything's fine. I...I just...um, nevermind, I forgot." Richard frowned, knowing her line of thinking, and not liking it.

"Okay. Listen, Babs, I'll meet you downstairs, alright?" Babs nodded and left to her room without argument. Kori bit her lip. "Sorry, she just came knocking at five o'clock and asked if I wanted to go up and watch the sunrise. It was kind of weird. I just told her that it wouldn't be up for another hour, and she came in and slept on the couch, and none of us woke up."

She still looked suspicious. "I figured you didn't want to be bothered about that anymore, so I left you alone."

Richard gave a small half-smile, though that was the last thing he felt like doing. Hadn't Kori figured out by now that he'd lay his life on the line for her? He'd been joking about having to wake up early. "I was kinda tired, I guess. Yesterday was pretty frustrating." Kori shrugged, holding up the DVD she'd brought with her.

"Richard? You want to watch a movie? Vic and Gar went out in town and brought this back," Kori asked. Richard sighed, running a hand through his hair. He'd already forgotten who he was going with, but Babs was probably dressed and waiting for him downstairs. Plus, this was a perfect opportunity to explore whatever feelings he had left for Babs, if any. He was so confused about the whole thing, he'd put it out of his mind. But spending a whole morning alone with her was bound to come up with some conclusion.

"I can't, Kori, sorry. Babs already asked me to go somewhere today, she didn't tell me where. I'll ask if you can come, too." He made to move away, not really going to go ask, but thankfully, Kori held him back.

"It's fine. Maybe when you come back. You're taking this friendship thing awfully seriously, aren't you?"

He bit his tongue to keep a straight face, hoping she wouldn't figure out his _real_ motive. "Yeah...you know me."

Kori laughed. "I wish. I'll never understand you. Come back soon?" He nodded, kissing her quickly.

"See you later." He hurried off before she could say anything more, riding down the elevator to find Babs waiting. "Where did you wanna go again?"

Thetwo headed out the door and walked down to the nearest bus stop, which took them downtown. Once they reached, Babs pulled Richard off the bus and they walked a little bit until they came to the park. A band was playing in one corner, and in another, a magician was putting on a show for little kids. The park was completely covered in balloons and such, with people milling around everywhere. An announcer was on a stage somewhere in the middle, and colorful tents were set up at various spots. One boasted a real spider-woman, another a show full of man-eating tigers.

Circus.

Richard stopped dead, unable to take another step. He hadn't been to a circus since his parents had died in their trapeze act. Involuntarily, his eyes crept over to the biggest tent of them all, and he shuddered, knowing what it held. Babs realized he was no longer following her, and turned around. "Dick? You coming?"

Richard shook his head, backing away. "N-no. Not h-here." She laughed.

"Dick, shouldn't you be over your clown fear by now? I promise they won't eat you. Now come on!" She pulled him by his arm again, and he gulped.

"Clowns. Right."

He refused to go anywhere near the Big Top, but they went to the little tents around it, getting cotton candy, watching the different shows, and having a decent time. Richard calmed down eventually, trying to ignore the images of the falling, screaming couple that had been his only family. If he couldn't take it, he'd just run, he reasoned. But it was about time he'd gotten over his phobia of circuses. It wasn't the circus's fault. He had no idea whose fault it was.

It surprised him how un-Barbie doll-like Babs was now that Kori wasn't here. She reminded him a lot of his girlfriend, who, he thought guiltily, was now sitting at the hotel with nothing to do. "Babs, maybe we should head back now." Babs looked up from her popcorn, shrugging.

"I guess. But there's a huge fireworks show tonight on the pier. Will you come with me?"

"Can I bring Kori?" Babs contemplated it.

"If she's not busy. But we're going to have to set out almost right after lunch, because there's a bunch of things to do before then." Richard tried not to make a face, but he'd been hoping to get in some time alone with Kori today. He sighed.

"Alright. Let's just go."

When they got back to the hotel, Richard and Babs headed up to their floors, only to meet up with Kori, Rachel, Karen, and a couple of other people Richard had a hard time remembering. One clicked. Steven Redd, the idiot who'd kissed Kori the first day of vacation. The other three, though, were still a bit unfamiliar. "Um...hi," said Richard, uncomfortably. Kori avoided his gaze, scooting farther away from Steven.

"Hey, Dick. Where are you going?" asked Steven.

"Nowhere, just back up to my room," he answered. There were two other boys, and Richard knew he knew them, but couldn't place his finger on it. Glancing at Kori again, he figured it out. "Harry! Hot Spot! It's nice to meet you guys again."

"Dick Grayson, right? Richie Rich boy who didn't know his way out of the southside?" Hot Spot joked. Richard flushed.

"Yeah." Richie Rich? Very funny. "Hey, Kori, are you going to be busy for the next few hours?"

Kori shrugged. "Probably. The six of us are going to go eat lunch, and maybe head out somewhere." He tried not to sigh. There was no chance, then, of her comeing with him to see the fireworks. His eyes darted towards Steven once, and then back at her. He hated seeing them together, and he wished he wasn't so overly-jealous, but it bothered him to no end. Especially the fact that Kori had always been gushing about how _great_ and _nice_ and _wonderful_ Steven was. He wasn't even sure if he could compare to the guy anymore.

"Okay then, maybe we can watch that movie at night?" The elevator dinged open, and they all left, Kori only nodding to him before doing the same. He saw Steven fall back to talk to her just as the elevator doors closed, and mentally shook away thoughts of what they would be doing when he wasn't there.

"I don't mean to be offensive, Dick, but Kori and Steven--"

"Shut up."

"Geez, touchy, aren't we? But you know she's not going to be entirely faithful, not with that guy around. Even _I_ can see it, and I barely know them. They're completely--"

"I said, shut up!"

Babs closed her mouth, sympathy practically enamating from her eyes. Richard looked away angrily, thinking. He wasn't going to give Kori and Steven any time alone if _he_ could help it. Those other five people had better keep them far apart from each other.

After a quick shower and a few minutes to calm himself down, Richard went downstairs to go find his girlfriend. They were outside playing basketball, and by the looks of it, Kori's team was winning. They stopped as he headed on to the court, and he asked, "Mind if I--"

Babs appeared out of nowhere, placing a hand on his shoulder and then smiling at everyone else. He blinked away the frustration and correctd himself. "Mind if _we _join in?"

He, Babs, Harry, and a brunette named Donna, who they'd met only once before, were on one team, and Steven, Kori, Hot Spot, and Karen were on the other. Rachel was referee. Richard played pretty well, but he would've been better if he hadn't been worrying about Steven and Kori the entire time. He kept an eye on them, making sure they never got too close, or threw too many smiles at each other. He barely noticed Babs cheering for him whenever he had the ball.

The score was 6-7, with Richard's team in the lead, but Kori was about to take a shot. He crept up behind her, a wicked grin on his face, and whispered the first dirty thing he could think of into her ear, making her miss.

"That shouldn't be allowed!" Kori said, her voice shrill and her face very, very red. Richard laughed and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her close to him.

"Come on, Kori, you know you liked it." He pecked her on the cheek and she laughed as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Richard could see Babs fuming and Steven looking pointedly away. _Stupid Steven...I knew he was trying to come on to Kori..._

"Team Redd gets a penalty shot. One more perverted comment, Grayson, and your team forfeits," Rachel announced. Richard opened his mouth in mock-anger, but Kori shushed him with firm kiss. "And if you question my decision, Grayson, you'll get your team disqualified, too."

"Aw, Kori, you should have let him talk!" joked Karen. Kori shrugged, smiling widely, and walked back to the free throw line, swaying her hips far more than necessary. She looked back once winking at Richard, who held his mouth closed so as to not let anything slip out. He glared at her, and she just laughed, taking the shot.

They all decided to have a break, having played for an hour or more. Richard grabbed Kori's hand and pulled her into his lap while he sat on the grass. "One day without talking to you and I'm going nuts," he muttered in her ear. Honestly, though, he should never have doubted her. She had eyes only for him the entire time, and for that, he was grateful. Kori would never cheat. Obviously she cared about him just as much as he cared about her, and Babs was blind if she couldn't see that.

"Maybe we can make up for that right now?" she asked hopefully.

He grinned. "Maybe."

She as about to kiss him again when Babs kneeled down next to them. "Hey, Dick, it's time for us to go." Richard pulled away, sending an annoyed glance at Babs before pecking Kori on the lips lightly. He scooted her off his lap and got up.

"Yeah, fine." _I'm so sure we had to leave right now. She could've waited another minute or two._

"Where are you going?" asked Kori, frowning. Richard sighed apologetically.

"Babs wanted to show me this place on the pier. We'll be back around eight, Kori." Kori nodded, sighing as well and getting up.

"Is the break over? We are _so_ gonna kick your butts this time!" exclaimed Donna.

"We're switching teams again, Donna. They've got to go somewhere," said Kori bitterly.

"A date?" asked Donna. Richard's eyes widened and he started to shake his head no, but Babs nodded, much to his surprise.

"You could call it that." Richard frowned at his ex-girlfriend, shaking his head. "Just joking, Dick. Relax." He still felt uncomfortable, and noticed Koi practically steaming at the ears, and Babs just shrugging at her innocently.

Kori gave him one last, disappointed look before heading over to Steven. Forget what he'd thought earlier. He was extremely lucky to have Kori because as of now, he was being the worst boyfriend in the world, and she _still _hadn't cheated on him with Steven. "Let's just get out of here." The sooner they left, the sooner they'd be back, hopefully. The fireworks wouldn't go too late, right?

On coming back downtown, Babs led around various places, noticing his apparent lack of enthusiasm and attention and trying to cheer him up. "Come _on_ Dick, we'll be back in a little while, and then you can watch your movie with Kori, okay? Just, for right now, concentrate on something other than her, please? This is pathetic."

Richard frowned. "Whatever." He followed Babs into a dingy-looking shop off to the side, where an old woman with a hooked nose was mumbling at the counter. She looked like a gypsy, with brightly colored shawls and beads drowning her body. Her white hair was pulled into a mess, loose ponytail and she had one laz eye. She smiled when Babs walked up to her, showing crooked, yellowing teeth.

"Hello, dear. What can I do for you today?" the old woman asked in a nails-on-chalkboard kind of voice.

Babs smiled back, but it was anything but sincere. "Hi. I remember coming here before, something about sleeping problems, and you fixed them up really nicely. But you said you were a fortune teller and potion maker, right?" The woman nodded, suddenly noticing Richard and studying him. "My friend and I were interested, would you mind...?"

The woman hobbled along the counter to a door at one end, and waved them in. "Come."

Richard was wary still. Babs had walked in, smiling sweetly, but he hung back. "Don't we have to pay or something?"

"Don't worry, Dick, I already took care of it." _Suspicious. _He walked in tentatively, remaining alert. He didn't like this place at all.

The back room looked much like the old woman's dress: bright and beaded. On one wall there was a huge shelf with bottles of every size and color. There were no windows, and in the middle of the room sat a table covered with purple tablecloth, and on it sat a crystal ball. There were only two chairs. "You go ahead, Dick, I'll stand," offered Babs.

Richard sat down, and the old woman sat down across from him. She muttered something, resting her hands on the orb. Dark gray smoke appeared inside, and the old woman's eyes widened. Richard, assuming it was some form of theatrics, waited for the actual prediction. The woman looked up, and for a minute he thought he could detect a geniune prick of worry in her eyes, but it was gone quickly. "I see...a bright new beginning for you. I see red leaving, and red coming. I see tears, and comfort. I see the end of an unstable relationship, and a budding romance." She fell silent, as though thinking.

"Um...okay," Richard answered, shifting uncomfortably. It was quite obvious what she was saying. That, apparently, he was going to end it with Kori and move on with Babs. Yeah, sure. He just hoped Babs hadn't figured that out. She was still smiling by the doorway.

"That was an amazing prediction!" Babs noted after a minute of tense, awkward silence. "Could you show him some of the potions you make?" The old lady got up and hobbled over to the big shelf, no longer looking very enthusiastic. She pulled down a bottle hesitantly, holding it out to Richard.

"Essence of happiness," she mumbled. "Will make you free of troubles for twenty-four hours, guarenteed."

"You mean anti-depressant?" Richard asked, raising and eyebrow.

"Oh, Dick, play along, will you?" said Babs laughingly.

"Essence of happiness!" the woman hissed, shoving it into his hands, as though she wanted nothing to do with it. He glanced at Babs one last time for assurance, and she nodded, so he pulled out the stopper and downed it.

Suddenly, everything got very blurry, and the next second, he was out cold...

When he woke up, Richard was on a blanket on the grass near the ocean. He was next to Babs, and looking up at fireworks in the sky. It was the finale. "What happened?" he groaned. Babs looked over at him and smiled.

"Don't you remember? We came over here around six after we got done downtown, and you fell asleep before the fireworks started. I didn't want to wake you 'cause I figured the fireworks would. And, besides, you look cute when you're sleeping." She chuckled.

Richard frowned. "We did? I can't remember anything...what time is it? I have to be back by eight. I promised Kori..." He looked at his watch and his eyes popped out. "Ten thirty?! Why didn't you wake me up? We need to go back NOW!" Babs opened her mouth to say something, but Richard had already gotten up and started running for a cab to take them back to the hotel. Babs just barely made it in the car, as he was about to tell the driver to forget about her and step on it. Kori was the number one priority right now.

They reached the hotel and Richard sprinted up the steps to his floor, knocking on Kori's door only to be told by a sleepy Rachel that Kori wasn't there. Panicked, he burst into his room to find Kori sleeping on the couch. She stirred, half-waking up. "Kori?" Richard asked. "What are you doing here? It's really late."

"Waiting for you," she mumbled. "We were going to watch a movie together, remember?" Richard felt horrible. He didn't even remember being tired, but surely he could've waited a few more hours before calling it a day? He'd had more all-nighters for studying than he could count.

"Sorry, Kori, I didn't know you'd wait. Go to sleep now, okay? We'll watch it later." She got up, swaying tiredly on the spot. Richard jumped to catch her if she fell, but she pushed him away, glaring.

"No, forget it. I'll just ask Steven to watch it with me, he wanted to see it, too." Richard's heart plummeted. "'Night." She stumbled out of the room, forgetting her DVD as she was still in sleep mode. Babs picked it up.

"Hey, Dick, you wanna watch this movie with me?" He was too miserable to say no.

They sat down on the couch, Richard making sure he was far away from Babs, when he felt something rustle in his pocket. Making sure Babs didn't see, he pulled out a folded piece of paper. Confused, he opened it up and read it in the dim light:

_Dear 'Dick,'_

_Your name matters not to me, but your fortune does. I come from a prestigious line of fortune tellers, and not once have I ever been wrong. Hopefully, yours will be the first time, as I have never read a more unlucky fortune. _

_You will not remember me when you wake from your slumber, but know this: there are no bright new beginnings for you, only dark, dark times in your life. There will be tears, but no comfort, and someone you love will be hurt horribly. It is your responsibility to be by that person's side when it happens. You may or may not pull through, it is your choice. If you do, you will be happy beyond belief in every manner of the world. But if you don't...your soul dies._

_If, by some lucky chance, you remember your plight, then I hope you will not think too badly of me. I was paid to read your fortune as I had, to put you in a deep, induced sleep. But if you do remember, you have also seen the state in which I live, and how hard money is to come by in my profession._

_However, my work is based around luck. I wish you the utmost good luck in the future, particulary the next half-year. You shall have great need of it._

_-M.Z._

The letter was written hurriedly, judging by the messy scrawl. It was also on crumpled paper, probably a faded newspaper. The message was ominous, mysterious, but Richard's detective skills couldn't figure out the most important question of all.

"When did I go visit a fortune teller?" he whispered to himself.

* * *

Very long chaper, the longest yet, I think. Anyways...yeah. 


	7. Chapter 7: The Talk

Sorry this chapter took FOREVER to get up! I had lots and lots of volleyball practice, but it was worth it...we won the championship!!!!!!

Thanks so much to **Artemis 96, BerryDrops, cartoonfire, cartoonstar, Crimson Black, Royalfire14, 4ever Singing, caresse345, Koriand'r Grayson, Kory Anders Grayson, FairieAngelx3o, SaoirseWaveglow, **and** lil love fan **for reviewing the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I own nothing mentioned below.

* * *

Karen looked better. That was the highlight of Kori's early morning. 

She'd left the hotel before everyone was up, grabbing breakfast at a small restaurant downtown. Then she'd gone to the park. Cleaning crews were there, attempting to sweep up the large amount of litter on the grass. What from, Kori had no idea. She sat down in a clean spot, protected from the eyes of the rest of the world by the branched and leaves of the weeping willow she was under. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, willing herself to forget all of her problems, just for a few hours. They could be dealt with later. Then, she pulled out a book from her rather large purse to read.

After an hour, she'd stuffed it back in again, disgusted. Of course, she'd picked out a romance novel. That was the last thing she wanted to read right now. Too much about cheating and breaking up and--

Kori stopped the train of thought. No. Not her and Richard. Never. Well, maybe, but not now, and no time soon. Hopefully not...

She groaned, unable to clear her head. She'd just have to go and talk to him. Richard always knew how to make her feel better, and why not about this? Surely he'd just deny that anything was going on between him and Babs, apologize profusely for not being there this entire vacation so far, and clear everything up with a kiss and a promise for a night out, right?

When she got back to the hotel, everyone was in the lobby, speaking frantically to the woman at the front desk of the hotel. Angelina turned and saw her. "She's here! She's okay!" Now ignoring the confused lady, the friends gathered around Kori and made various sounds of relief.

"We thought you got kidnapped or something! Karen woke up and you weren't there and she woke the rest of us up 'cause Vic and Gar fell asleep playing on Alan's porta-GameStation last night and we were all in the same room so she had to wake everyone up and we went looking for you all around the hotel and--" Wally said, refusing to take a breath until his story was finished. Jenny shushed him embarrassedly.

"Where were you?" asked Vic. Kori shrugged.

"Around..." No one asked anymore. "I'll be right back, I have to go up to the room for something..."

She ended up in front of Richard's room, and, finding it unlocked, walked in. There, on the couch, were Richard and Babs cuddling, asleep. With a sob loud enough to wake both of them, Kori ran out and into her own room, locking the door behind her and ignoring Richard's cries for her. She flung herself on to the bed and screamed into her pillow until she calmed down. She. Hated. Babs. So. Much.

_You're overreacting_, she told herself soothingly. _I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation..._

_Shut up. Just shut up. There's no possible explanation for that._ She didn't argue.

She stayed like that, curled up on her bed, for quite a while, at least until Richard's poundings on her door died away. A new knocking came to her door. "Kori? It's Rachel. Do you want to let me in?"

"Karen, too," added Karen.

"And Jenny."

"You okay, Kori?" asked Nicole.

"Let us in, Kori, we can all talk then," suggested Angelina. Kori followed their advice, crawling out of the bed to open the door and slinking back in again. In came all the girls of the group (minus Gar and Roy) armed with chocolate, ice cream, and make up. Kori watched half-amusedly as they set their things on the floor.

"Lock the door behind you," she told Rachel, the last one to come in. Rachel rolled her eyes, but did so. Karen handed Kori a bowl of ice cream and a chocolate bar.

"Spill."

Taking a deep breath again, Kori narrated the entire story. She finished with, "I know it seems like I'm overreacting, but I can't help it. I'm so afraid..." Nicole came around and gave her a comforting hug.

"I know Dick better than that. You don't have to be afraid, Kori. He wouldn't try to hurt you on purpose."

"But what if he really doesn't care about me anymore?" she asked desperately, looking at each of her friends in turn. "I've heard so much about how I'm exactly like Babs. What if he wants the real thing? I can't be as..." She wrinkled her nose. "Babs-ish as her." A few girls chuckled a little bit.

"You don't have to worry about a thing, Kori. Dick wouldn't do that. He'd be stupid to. More ice cream?" Kori held out her bowl and accepted another scoop.

"So..." she said, breaking the silence. "What's wrong with you, Karen?" Karen's face darkened.

"It's not important. More chocolate?" Kori shook her head.

"Really, Karen. We've all noticed," Jenny chipped in. Karen sighed and sat cross-legged on the floor, while Jenny, and Angelina did so as well. Nicole and Rachel joined Kori on her bed. The redhead had finally crawled out of the covers, so there was much more space. Karen threw a look at Rachel, who shrugged.

"You know," Kori surmised. Again, Rachel shrugged.

"It's just...Vic..." Karen started, angrily stabbing her ice cream and shoveling it in her mouth. "And that Sarah girl. He keeps flirting with her, and I told him that he should stop, but..." She spooned up more ice cream. "He's a big, stupid oaf, that's what he is. He won't even break up with me for her. But he's cheating on me, and I've seen him at it. I just don't want to end this, you know? We've been together, like, forever. I guess he's just bored." They all ate their ice cream in silence.

"At least you aren't falling apart," muttered Kori darkly.

"But you have a reason to, Kori. For me, it's just a high school relationship. For you and Dick, it's a lot more, you know? Even _he_ wouldn't throw something like that away, and he can be more stupid than V...Gar." Everyone nodded in agreement, but Kori wasn't sure what to say to that. There was another long silence.

"I don't think girl talks are supposed to be this solemn. Anyone got something happy to share?" asked Angelina brightly. No one raised their hands. "Pretty bummed out vacation, huh?"

"You can say that again," commented Rachel.

"What's wrong with you?"

"What else? More relationship problems. I swear, Xavier's group is out to get us. Gar's mad because I was hanging out with Malchior a lot, and I accused him of getting too close to Terra, so now he won't talk to me." She shrugged. "His loss."

"At least you haven't broken up," offered Nicole. "...Roy and I did yesterday."

"WHAT?"

"It just wasn't working out. We're still friends, though, so it's okay." She smiled serenely. "Besides, it would be kind of hard to make a relationship work while I was at college and him still in high school." Jenny frowned.

"Since when are you going to college?"

"I skipped a grade. I was in the senior year last year, remember? I'm really nervous about it, but I'm sure everything'll turn out fine." Rachel snorted.

"You _always_ think everything will turn out fine."

Kori munched on her chocolate thoughtfully. "Maybe it won't, though. At the rate we're going, at least half of us are going to have broken hearts before we start senior year."

"Knock wood!" Karen ordered. They all did so to appease their superstitious friend. Kori hastily revised her statement.

"Broken hearts _or_ new relationships. Hopefully the latter."

After yet another long silence, Nicole said, "Have you ever thought about wrestling?"

"Wrestling?"

"Mm-hmm. The names they make up for themselves are so creative!" She giggled a little bit. "I made mine up when I was little. How does 'Panther' sound?" Angelina giggled along with her.

"That was random. Cheery, but random."

"Nicole, you'd be the last person I'd ever expect to see wrestle. You're too nice. I think track or cross country is more your thing, not a contact sport. Besides, you're really smart. You're just going to throw all that away?" asked Jenny, frowning.

"But it's choreographed. Like dance. Sure, people get hurt, but it takes a lot of skill, and a lot of muscle. And I wouldn't do it for a real job, just...I don't know. I wanted to be a vet...or a scientist. I just thought it would be fun."

"There's a dark side to you we never had any idea about," said Karen jokingly. "But I can _so_ imagine you all buff and muscle-y, dropping people out of the ring with one hand and then posing wearing next to nothing." Nicole laughed too.

Smiling, Kori crawled under the covers of her bed, snuggling up. They'd made her feel a lot better about everything. Sure, she was still upset, but at least she wasn't pulling her hair out in frustration anymore. She just wished Richard would get his priorities straight. Maybe she was asking too much from someone who'd already done so much for her.

"Kori? You okay?" asked Jenny. Kori frowned.

"Yeah..." A knock sounded at her door, and Kori, startled, jumped out of the covers.

"Kori? It's me. Can I come in?" asked Richard. The girls were suddenly all over the place.

"You look like you've been crying. Get me a hairbrush and some water," hissed Karen. She smoothed out Kori's hair quickly and then splashed cold water on her face, which Kori blinked out of her eyes in surprise. "Good. You don't want him to know how worried you are about Babs. Now go!"

"Why?" asked Kori.

"Later!"

"Kori? Are you talking to someone?" called Richard from outside. Angelina pushed Kori towards the door, and she opened it. Across from her stood a soaking wet, slightly shivering Richard, who peered over her shoulder and got a shock seeing five other girls in the room. "Um...hey."

"Dick," Karen spat. Kori bit her lip as Richard's shoulders slumped.

"Yeah. Uh...if you guys are busy, then I can just come back later..." Angelina and Jenny crossed their arms, letting out identical sounds of distaste. Richard looked even more hopeless, and turned to leave.

"No, Dick, we were just going. See you later, Kori," said Rachel firmly. Rolling their eyes, the other four girls followed, Rachel tripping Kori on the way out 'accidentally.' Kori fell into Richard, who caught her out of habit. Before she could pull away, though, he hugged her, forgetting how wet he was.

"I'm sorry." He wouldn't let her go, and she started to shiver as well. "I know you don't want to hear it, but I can totally explain..."

"Richard, you're _cold_," Kori grunted. He released her embarrassedly, scratching the back of his neck.

"Sorry...again. It was raining outside." Kori didn't bother asking what he was doing outside. Sighing, he shuffled to the door. "That's...I just...yeah. Sorry." He shrugged half-heartedly, looking away. Kori wanted to get angry, to yell and scream and point fingers, but she couldn't. He looked so absolutely pathetic it was beyond her willpower to get mad now.

"Whatever," she answered, shrugging back. Her mind was burning with rage, but she just couldn't voice it. "Doesn't matter."

He stared at her pleadingly. "What do you want me to do, Kori? I know you don't want to hear any of that crap. Tell me what I should do about her. Who am I supposed to choose when both of you are..." Again, Kori shrugged.

"Whomever you think is more important." She closed the door on her boyfriend's face.

Thereafter, she resolved to push the matter out of her mind, at least for the remainder of the day. She felt like being alone, and just left a note for whomever, if anyone, decided to check the room to see if she was there. Then she walked downtown, wandering about aimlessly.

"Kori?" She bit her lip, trying to tuck her red hair over her shoulder so she'd blend in more, but it was no use. Someone had already recognized her. Why it had to be _him_, she had no idea.

"Xavier," she muttered dully, glancing around to make sure people were there. Xavier came up to her and slung an arm around her shoulders, which she quickly wriggled out of. Undeterred, he wrapped it around her shoulders again.

"I heard you and Dick were having problems."

"That's none of your concern."

"So you are?"

"In case you didn't understand, Xavier, that means 'leave me alone.'"

He smirked. "Now, now, cutie. Don't provoke me, or I might just get dangerous again." She rolled her eyes, smacking his arm away. In a street full of people? Yeah right. Still, she was on alert. "Come on, how 'bout I take you out today? To get your mind of Grayson, anyways."

"We're already out," Kori pointed out. Xavier grinned.

"I'll take that as a yes. Where--"

"No."

"No?"

"No," Kori confirmed. "You've got to be insane if you think I'll ever trust you again. Rehab or not, I'm not going anywhere alone with you. Ever. So get your hands off of me and _go_." Insulted, Xavier just shook his head and went on about his criminal (Kori guessed) way, and she on hers. Somehow, though, in the back of her mind, she knew Xavier hadn't given up.

After a while, she got bored and went back to the hotel. No one she knew was there, so she grabbed a pop out of the fridge and settled down on the couch. Ice cold drink. Rich leather couch. Hotel stay.

All coming from Bruce Wayne's pocket.

She felt disgusted all of a sudden, and got up, glaring at the couch as though it had verbally reminded her that she owed Richard...practically her life. She hated it, she hated admitting it, but most of all, she hated herself. Who had come to her aid when her parents had died? Who had rushed over as soon as she'd called to say her sister was trying to steal all of her possessions? Whose house...mansion, more like, had she lived in for the past six months so Galfore's family could move into her own?

It sure wasn't Xavier's.

And this afternoon, she'd been so horrible to him. She should have been more understanding, more considerate. She should have been a better girlfriend, or at least _tried_.

_Maybe...I'm not good enough for him_, she thought. _How could I be so stupid? Of course Babs would appreciate him more, that's why he keeps running to her. I've never cheated on him, but what about all the fights we've had? Well, we never had any while we were dating before this summer. Is that because he likes Babs better?_

Not wanting to sit on that accursed ouch, she set her drink down on the island and slid to the floor. Maybe that was it. Maybe this was all _her_ fault. Of course it was. It had been idiotic to try and blame someone else.

Her door opened, but she didn't bother turning to see who it was. Maybe they would just ignore her, Kori hoped. Maybe they'll just go away. She heard the lock click and was sweeped into the figure's arms. She already knew, without looking, who it was, and she just locked her arms around his neck, wishing she'd never have to let go.

"Stop thinking," he murmured, pressing his lips to her cheek. "This isn't a math problem, Kori, you don't have to solve it. Relax." It was kind of hard _not_ to stop thinking whenever he was around, Kori noted dryly, but she just snuggled easily into her boyfriend's now much warmer embrace, responding immediately when he kissed her.

They cuddled on the couch, all earlier resentment forgotten, at least for now. Richard left for one second to turn on the T.V. and pop a DVD in, claiming he hadn't really been paying attention the last time he'd watched it. Ignoring all thoughts as to what might have distracted him, Kori leaned her head on his shoulder and settled back.

Kori turned her head slightly to glance at the setting sun. Seven? Already?

Today hadn't been quite so bad after all.

* * *

Richard was woken by a loud sob, from who or where, he had no idea. His first thought was 'Kori!' But that wasn't possible, she was sleeping right beside him on the... 

Babs?

In his sleep-fogged mind, it clicked, and he rushed out the already open door as Babs stirred, muttering his name. Skidding to a halt outside Kori's closed door, he banged on it, yelling for her. He could hear muffled noises coming from the inside, and he was pretty sure they had nothing to do with happiness.

"Kori, please! Open the door! Let me in, Kori, I swear it wasn't what it looked like!" he yelled pahetically one last time. Finally giving up, he inhaled deeply and clenched his fists. He really needed to punch something right now.

Rushing out of the hotel before Babs could find him, he ended up near the alley where she'd taken him yesterday. Remembering the note in his pocket, he decided to find the little old woman's shop and ask her about it. Stopping outside, he heard familiar voices through the walls and couldn't resist the urge to eavesdrop.

"...Stupid old woman! You weren't supposed to tell him that, you were supposed to tell him to leave her _at that minute!_" Xavier. What would he be doing here?

"I do not expect you to understand," the voice he knew to be the fortune teller's muttered darkly. "Those two were in great danger--"

"Does it look like I care? We paid you to say what WE wanted you to say, not some crackpot delusion about murder! I _demand_ the money back. One hundred bucks? What a rip-off."

"I made him fall asleep! I keep half the money!" the woman shouted.

"Fine," Xavier sneered. "But I hope you know I'm going to tell as many people as possible to never come _here_. What about customer satisfaction and all that crud? You're pretty bad in the corporate world, you know that?"

"Fortune-telling is an art," hissed the woman. "It requires honesty. Had I not been in such a financial--"

"Shut it, will you? Hand over the dough." Almost without warning, the shop door opened and Xavier stormed out, leaving Richard unnoticed. Richard slipped inside the store, but the woman was gone.

"Uh...M.Z.?" He called. No answer. Strange.

There wasn't a lot he could do about it, so he exited the shop, making a mental note to come back later. Gears turned in his head, trying to make sense of what he'd just heard. It was about him, he knew. Or did this woman regularly read wrong fortunes, tranquilize her customers, and then discreetly hand them their real futures?

'Leave her.' Leave Kori.

'Great danger'? '_Murder_'? Is that what she meant by someone he loved getting hurt? Someone was going to murder Kori? His heart stopped. This couldn't be right. Yet, it all made sense. If he 'failed' to help her, or let her get killed, he'd die inside. He ran back to the hotel, uncaring about the light rain that was now falling, soaking him. The hotel employees sent him disapproving glares as he dripped water all over the place, but he ignored them. He had to see if she was okay.

"Kori? It's me. Can I come in?" He heard people moving around inside, speaking in hushed whispers. His heart sped up. "Kori? Are you talking to someone?" The door opened, and to his relief, the other people in the room were all people he knew, none of whom were likely to commit homicide. "Um...hey."

None of them looked happy to see him, and he figured Kori must have told them about catching him and Babs this morning. Eventually, Rachel got them out, and Richard was finally able to express his relief. He hugged her, murmuring apologies in her ear.

"Richard, you're _cold_," she grumbled. He let go immediately, realizing he was shivering. Whoops. Now Kori's clothes were soaked as well. He expected her to laugh it off, like that morning on the beach, but she glared at him. His shoulders sagging, Richard apologized yet again.

"What do you want me to do, Kori? I know you don't want to hear any of that crap. Tell me what I should do about her. Who am I supposed to choose when both of you are..." The minute he said it, he knew it had come out totally wrong. Kori looked even angrier than before, but her voice still came out evenly.

"Whoever you think is more important." She slammed the door in his face, and he staggered back a few steps to avoid breaking his nose. Richard ra his hands through his hair, groaning in frustration. Why did this have to be so difficult?

He lumbered back to his room, showering and changing before he caught a cold. Gar was there, _reading_ of all things. He paused while drying his oh-so-perfect-not hair. "Whatcha doing?" Richard asked slowly. Gar glanced up for a minute.

"Reading." He went back to his book. Richard looked over the title and nearly fainted from shock.

"Hamlet? Who are you and what have you done with Gar? You've never even picked up a Dr. Seuss book before, and now you're reading _Hamlet_?"

"You got a problem with that?" questioned Gar menacingly. Richard never thought he'd see the day where he'd be scared of Gar, but he held up his hands in surrender.

"No...just surprised. Um...I'm just gonna...go..." Gar didn't stop him as he left. Richard ended up with Roy, Alan, and Wally playing video games, but he just watched. It was a stupid game, one with lots of gore and machine guns. Bored almost immediately and wondering how their girlfriends put up with this, he journeyed over to Kori's room again. Maybe she'd want to talk now.

When he opened the door, though, he found her crumpled on the ground in a heap, holding her head in her hands. Rushing over to inspect her for any wounds, he swept her up, sitting her on the couch. He said something along the lines of "Are you okay?" but he couldn't remember. All he knew was that the next minute they were kissing, and everything was okay. He really didn't care about anything past that point.

He agreed to watching that cheesy action/romance she'd picked out, but didn't plan to pay attention. He'd fallen asleep yesterday night while watching it, so he knew at least half the movie was dumb. But "watching a movie" with Kori never really ended up with them just watching the movie. Fifteen minutes in, tops.

Finally, time alone together.

It would be their last for a very, very long time.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8: The Fight

I'm not sure whether I'm taking this one down yet or not, but I might as well get as far as my ideas take me, lol.

Thanks to **BerryDrops, XxNightfirexX, caresse345, Royalfire14, Crazy Sugar Girl, 4ever Singing, Kory Anders Grayson, cartoonstar, cartoonfire, Crimson Black, TAUT13, FairieAngelx3o,** and **lil love fan** for reviewing the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own TT

* * *

Kori hummed to herself as she picked out her clothes for the day. Yesterday had been wonderful, and hopefully, today would be, too. Maybe she could finally stop worrying and actually start _enjoying _her vacation.

Yeah, right. Fifteen minutes into her day, she'd been rejected by Richard for spending the morning and/or evening together, had to witness Babs clutching on to HER boyfriend's arm and him not shaking her off, and they had no more bagels at the continental breakfast. It was a five-star hotel, how could they run out of anything?

She was getting very moody lately, she noticed. Her mood was determined by her time with Richard, almost next to none. Most of the time, she covered it up with a fake smile and a forced laugh, but spilled her heart out to Karen and Rachel. She really shouldn't have, as they had enough problems of their own, but if Richard had _been_ there for her like he was _supposed_ to...

That was the worst part. She couldn't blame him for anything. He'd always been there for her, and always helped her through everything. Maybe she was just utterly dependant on him, and hadn't noticed, but she couldn't stand the two week break he was taking. _Things will be better tomorrow_, she sighed to herself.

"Kori?" asked a voice at her room door. She'd come here after breakfast, plopping down on the bed and staring at the ceiling. It was strangely calming.

"It's open." Steven came in, smiling and holding flowers.

"How are you?"

Kori beamed, sniffing at the roses and sighing in delight. "Much better now."

"Come take a walk with me?" She agreed.

They took a bus downtown, and Steven led her to the same park she'd gone to the day before. Around the entire grassy area there was a path which disappeared into a grove of trees for about thirty yards and then reappeared, going in a complete circle. The two walked along there, talking and laughing as they watched the little children play catch.

"You've lived in Greenland?"

"And Russia," Steven replied. "All ice there, that's why ski slopes come naturally to me."

She giggled. "Not to me they didn't. How many times did I fall before I got it right?" He shrugged it off.

"No, those were a bad pair of skis. We get those sometimes. We had to throw those out, after your school was gone. It was too bad you ended up with them."

"You have no idea how embarrassing that was...Richard was laughing at me the whole time, and so was everyone else, and I didn't even know them!"

Steven laughed. "I remember seeing that entire hill stop in their tracks. Except you. You have to admit it was very funny." Kori rolled her eyes, laughing along with him anyway. "Speaking of Dick, how is he?" Kori swallowed, trying to get rid of the bitter taste in her mouth.

"He's great. Wonderful, in fact." It wouldn't go away, but she had no intention of telling her problems to the whole world. Rachel and Karen were the only people she ever confided in with Richard-related problems.

"He's spending a lot of time around Babs. She's pleasant company, I guess, once you get to know her. Not a bad person." Kori forced a smile.

"Right. Well, I'd better get going now, Karen's expecting me for lunch. I'll see you--"

"Kori."

"What?" she snapped a bit more harshly than she'd intended. Clapping a hand over her mouth, she mumbled an apology. Two guys who'd been nothing but nice to her, and here she was, biting their heads off. _It's no wonder Richard's leaving you._

"It's fine, Kori, I understand. It's alright to be angry at Babs and Dick, but you have to let them be friends."

"I would, if they'd be doing friend-ish things. But..." No. She wasn't going to crumble. Not now, not ever. And definitely not in front of Steven. "Nevermind. But do tell, Mr. Redd, how you'd become such an expert on matters such as this."

Steven smiled a little sadly at her. "Let's just say I've been horribly jealous about something like this before, but it got me nowhere." Kori didn't catch the hint.

"You, Steven? I can't picture you feeling jealousy or anger over _anything_." He just kept smiling, and Kori knew the conversation was over.

They got back to the hotel less than an hour after they had left, and Kori turned to Steven. "Thanks. So much. Today really did help."

He flashed her a smile. "I'm glad. That's my job, you know." He drew her into a close hug, and for once, Kori didn't mind. After they had pulled apart reluctantly, they stood around in an awkward, uncomfotable silence, until Kori remembered that Karen had wanted her for lunch. Waving goodbye to Steven, she hurried up the stairs, hoping Karen was free. She'd made that thing up.

* * *

Babs wasn't so bad. Once he got around the fact that he hated her for whatever had happened sophomore year, she was just as he remembered her, very fun to be around. Of course, just as a friend. But still better than Kori, who was always more distant with him whenever he saw her.

He ran his hand through his hair, sighing. Maybe it was that monthly thing, but he hoped it was over soon. It was like his own girlfriend hated him, and she'd made it a point to avoid him all morning after he'd told her he'd be spending the day with Babs. She didn't even give him time to explain, just whispered, "Right, I forgot," and left. What was he supposed to do? She sat around and moped all day, and now she wouldn't come near him.

And even if that was the only problem, he'd've been able to fix it up, somehow, someway. But she was being a little _too_ friendly with Steven, in his opinion. He caught them coming back into the hotel and hugging, when he and Babs were about to eat lunch. And she was _blushing_. She shouldn't be blushing for anyone but him. And how many times had they been out alone? Together? With no one else there? Like, on a date? Not that it _was_ a date, it just seemed like that's what they were going on. Not saying that it was, but on how many other occasions do guys and girls go out together on? None that he could think of. But of course it wasn't a date, Kori wouldn't cheat on him, no matter what mood she was in. Right?

"Hey, Dick, you there?"asked Babs, snapping her fingers in front of his eyes.

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

"Am I that boring?"

"No, just...thinking..."

"I see. Hey, look, it's Xavier." Oh joy.

He came swaggering over to their table, frowning at Richard. "Funny."

"What's funny?" Richard challenged.

Xavier just shrugged. "I saw Kori making out with some guy on our floor, and I thought it was you, but it couldn't have been, if you're right here. His hair did look kinda reddish, though. Maybe it was Stev--" Richard was up in a flash, nearly knocking the table over. Xavier took his seat, then leaned in, whispering to Babs.

"Way to ruin our lunch," Babs hissed.

"Shut up. We need to talk--" That was all Richard heard as he walked away, but he didn't care. Steven was going to be torn limb from limb if he was laying a finger on Kori.

"Kori! Open the door!" he yelled, pounding on her room door. She opened it, looking disgruntled.

"What?"

He walked in, examing all the corners. "Where's Steven?

"He went out to lunch with Donna and Harry, why?"

"Then who was that guy you were kissing?"

Kori put her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow. "Who?"

"That guy Xavier said you were..." He really should stop listening to Xavier. Kori scowled at him.

"That shows just about how much trust you have in me. If the only thing you wnted to do was make accusations, then leave." She pointed at the door. Richard stared disbelievingly at her, but she never wavered. He inched out the door.

"I have every right to make accusations. You two...in the lobby...this morning!" he spluttered.

"Yeah? Well, you don't see me pointing out how many times you've kissed Babs this summer, do you? Or how many times you've blown me off for her? At least I put you first! If anything, _I_ should be the one yelling at you!"

"Leave Babs out of this! She was a better girlfriend than you, anyway!"

"Yeah? Then why don't you go _date_ her?!"

"Because I'm stuck with YOU!" Kori slammed the door in his face so hard, the walls shook and the chandelier in the hallway swayed threateningly. Richard pounded on the door. "Kori, open up, right now!" Nothing happened. He snarled. "I _hate_ it when you get like this!"

He could hear sniffling noises coming from the other side. Great. Now she was crying. He hit the door one more time out of sheer frustration and then left. No way was he going to admit to this being one of his mistakes this time. She could apologize, or she could be miserable, it was up to her.

_No! _cried a voice in the back of his head, his hated conscience. _You've never fought before, and now look at you two. Maybe she really IS right. And that was a horrible thing to say about wanting to date Babs again, whether you really do want to or not. _

He glanced sadly back at Kori's closed door again, and sighed. Maybe later. He didn't feel like talking right now.

* * *

Hmmmmmmm...I had a question for you guys, but I forgot it. Oh well...maybe later 


	9. Chapter 9: The Kiss

Thank you all SO MUCH for reviewing the last chapter! Cookies!

Disclaimer: I don't own TT or anything else mentioned below.

* * *

As the rest of the week crawled by, Kori felt herself becoming more and more depressed as Richard spent more and more time with Babs. He didn't want to be near her, it was obvious. There was only so much Karen and Rachel could do to comfort her, and what with their own messed up love lives, Kori brushed them away. She forced a smile and got through the day, crying once or twice during the night, quiet enough not to wake anyone else. She didn't go near Steven anymore, for fear it would provoke Richard. She didn't want to get him angry again. It hurt enough the first time. 

It was her fault, she decided. That arguement they'd had was her fault. Otherwise, Richard would have come and apologized to her. He always did when he'd done something wrong. So, she'd come to the conclusion that it was _her_ who'd done something to get him upset this time, and he was taking it out on her by this mess with Babs. It was the most comforting theory she had. The only problem was, every time she tried to apologize, Richard would walk away, usually with Babs, before she could get the words out. Sometimes, she wondered if he was being too harsh. Surely, whatever she'd done hadn't been _that_ bad, or she'd know. But it must have been, because if it hurt him anything like it hurt her when she saw him with Babs, it had been horrible.

"Hello, Gar," Kori fake-chirruped. "Good morning!"

"Shut up, Kori."

She deflated faster than a popped balloon. "Are you mad at me, too?"

"Why are you so happy? It's raining!" Kori didn't answer. He glanced up at her, only to see her holding back tears. "Hey, Kori? I'm sorry, my bad, I didn't know--"

"No, you don't have to apologize. I'm sorry I can't do anything right."

"Sure you can! What are you talking about?"

She shook her head, eyeing the dark thunderclouds outside the hotel restaurant. "It isn't important. How are you and Rachel?" Gar immediately became as stormy as the weather outside.

"Don't talk to me about her. She's just like Terra. What's that Malchior guy got that I don't? All my girlfriends seem to like him more than me." Kori put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"He's conniving and 'bad,' that's what he's got. You know Rachel wouldn't ever, ever choose him over you. She was just angry you were with Terra. She believes the same thing, Gar. She thinks she isn't good enough." Gar was silent for a minute. "You know Rachel's always been good at hiding how she feels. But Karen and I can tell, Gar, she's scared of losing you. You may have been the one person who really cared about her...in a romantic sense."

"I never thought about it that way," Gar murmured. He chuckled dryly. "I guess that's what we're all afraid of, huh?" Kori shrugged. "Thanks, Kor. I don't think I want to talk to her yet, but I might in a little bit."

"Glad to help, Gar, but the sooner, the better."

He nodded slightly, and chuckled again. "I can see why girl talk is so popular. But, dude, Vic would totally crack up if I tried to have a heart to heart with _him_." Kori giggled and hugged him, glad to have the old Gar back. She let go quickly, searching to see if Richard was there. He might have gotten mad again. "Something wrong?" asked Gar.

"No, but I better get going. See you around." Glancing out the window, Kori saw that the thunderclouds had cleared. She picked up her purse and left the restaurant, deciding she would hit the beach on her own today. Maybe just to sit in the sun. She hadn't been out of the hotel for ages.

Changing into her swimsuit and heading down to the water, she stopped, seeing Richard and Babs already there, laughing and splashing around in the ocean. Cautiously, she approached them. Maybe they wouldn't mind her joining in. Yeah, right.

Babs was awfully close to Richard. Kori quickened her pace, wondering if she should get their attention or not. She saw Richard's hand move to Babs's cheek, and frowned. What was he doing?

Their faces moved closer, closer, and Kori broke into a run, yelling their names and waving her arms. It was no use. They were kissing. Her own boyfriend was cheating on her right in front of her.

She stopped, a sob tearing through her throat. _Not again. Not this again..._Richard broke the kiss and looked up, his eyes wide. She backed away as he came running. Babs stood back, looking smug.

"Kori..." She kept backing away, tears running down her face. "Kori, listen..."

"I d-don't want t-to hear it." She was about to run again, but Richard held her back, looking desperate.

"Kori, I can explain, please!" He kissed her for the first time in days, and everything would've been perfect right then, except for one thing.

He tasted like _Babs_.

Disgusted, Kori shoved him away from her as hard as she could, and sent one last, tearful glare at him before running back to the hotel, back to her floor, and back to her room. She shut the door and locked it, so only Karen and Rachel could use the room keys to come in. Then she crumpled on the bed and cried all the tears she'd been holding in since their first fight.

* * *

He never really did apologize. He was far too angry at her, and his pride was getting in the way. Besides, Babs was always telling him he deserved someone better. Kori was lucky he was putting up with all these mood swings. It wasn't like _he_ was having any fun either. At least, this was the explanation Babs had drilled into his mind. 

He couldn't help feeling guilty, his fault or not. Everyone could tell it was all Kori could do to keep from breaking down. But every time he decided to go and talk to her, it seemed like Steven was there first. It didn't matter to him if she shrugged him off, it was enough to get on any boyfriend's nerves.

He had half a mind to tell Steven to stay away from Kori, but didn't. He owed the guy. Still, it was all he could do to keep from beating him to a pulp.

"Hey, Dick, it stopped raining," commented Babs, looking up from the Chinese takeout they'd ordered. Richard shrugged, randomly missing the way Kori always used to--no, still _did_--call him 'Richard.' He missed her a lot lately. He'd barely seen her in four days. _Today_, he decided. _Today I'll go talk to her and sort everything out._

"Finally. It'd been going for hours." Babs smiled, taking his hand.

"Let's go to the beach." The beach. He'd promised to take Kori to the beach again. But she probably wouldn't like the fact that Babs was there too. He'd invite her to go some other time. "Dick? You there?"

"Huh?"

"Are you thinking about Kori again?" Babs sighed and sat down, cupping his cheeks with her hands. "Dick, if she hasn't come and said sorry by now, she obviously doesn't care. Being miserable without you or whatever she's pretending is just that: pretending. She's not worth it. Forget about her."

"Babs, don't say things like that about Kori! You don't know her like I do--"

"I know enough," said Babs coolly. "And in my opinion, she's worse than I was in sophomore year. She's been cheating on you with Steven this whole summer, Dick, and you've just let it go."

"She hasn't..."

"Dick, it's time you faced the truth. She's being completely unfaithful. It's time to let go."

He shook his head, brushing her hands off of his face. "I can't Babs, you don't understand. She wouldn't...I...I love her, Babs. It's not that easy."

Babs snorted. "You love _her_? You've got strange taste, Dick. All I see is a wimp with a fake tan that couldn't stand on her own two feet to save her life."

Richard scowled at her. "I said, don't talk about Kori like that. You can't judge her, because you didn't know how...absolutely amazing she was before all of this. Her parents _died_, Babs. Last year. Do you have any idea how strong she's been since then? You couldn't possibly. It's my fault, and I need to go say sorry right now. Excuse me."

"Dick, wait!" Babs cried in distress. "Believe me on this one. You're only ruining yourself." Richard knew he shouldn't stop, but did anyway. "I know girls like Kori. I've _been_ a girl like Kori. I know how she thinks. And...I don't want to break it to you, Dick, but she doesn't love you back." The words cut through his heart like a knife. "She's after something, maybe your looks or your money, but preppy girls like her falling in love? Hardly likely."

"You're wrong," he said coldly. He knew Kori better than that. And no one could possibly keep up an act like that for over six months. Kori may not _love_ him, but she definitely cared about him.

Babs sighed heavily. "Believe what you want, but don't say I didn't warn you when she breaks your heart. Now are we going to the beach or not?"

"Whatever. Be down in fifteen."

When they got there, with the atmosphere considerably lightened, Babs swam out deep and dived under the water. Richard wasn't really worried, she had been on the school swim team. When he felt a tug on his leg, however, he freaked out, falling backwards into the water and splashing everywhere. Babs surfaced, laughing at him.

"Gotcha."

"You're gonna pay for that." He smirked before sending a huge wave right into her face. She shrieked, coughing and rubbing the salt water out of her eyes.

"Two can play at that game." She splashed right back, and a huge war began.

Stretching his arm out and keeping it flat on the surface of the water, he pushed his arm towards Babs, making an even bigger wave. "Nice, Mr. Physics," Babs sneered. "You're going all math geek on me."

"Only for you, Kor--Babs," he corrected quickly. Babs's shoulders slumped and she stared as though he was the most pathetic thing she'd ever seen.

"Dick..."

"I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking...or, well, I was, but...I should've gone and apologized, Babs, it would make me feel a whole lot better. Why won't you let me?"

She held up her hands in surrender. "I don't care. I'm just looking out for you. Let's just...go." She headed out of the water, and Richard groaned. He didn't need another woman mad at him. He crept up behind her as silently as he could, scooped up a nice amount of water, and dumped in on her head. To say she was surprised was a vast understatement.

She turned around, grinning mischievously, and splashed him back. "You big softie, you can't stand _anyone_ upset." She pounded him lightly on the chest. He shrugged, smiling. At least he'd done something right.

Maybe it was just the way the wind made her hair cover up the rest of her face, or maybe it was just the way her voice sounded, both so much like Kori's, that made him reach up and caress her cheek. Babs leaned in and kissed him softly. The waves pounded at their feet, the sun made everything glow, and it couldn't have been a more romantic scene.

Everything felt so wrong.

Richard could have sworn he heard someone calling him, and broke their kiss to look up. His heart practically stopped beating.

Kori.

She was barely ten feet away, and slowly backing up. She was going to make a run for it, he realized. Richard ran over to her, completely forgetting about Babs, and tried to explain. He'd never seen her look more hurt. He tried to kiss her, but for the first time--ever--she pushed him away. He stumbled back a few feet, and by the time he regained his balance, she'd disappeared.

Richard knew she'd gone back to the hotel. He ran after her, not even fifteen seconds behind. Kori still got to her room and slammed the door behind her, locking him out. From the minute the door closed, he knew it was no use. She was crying so loud he could hear it crystal clear from the other side. Richard barely made it to his room before his temper blew out of control.

"Why can't I do anything RIGHT!?" he roared, chucking a pillow at the couch. He grabbed another and threw it, too, sitting down on the clearing their removal had made on the bed. His dropped on to his hands, and he dug his nails into her head to keep from yelling again. He was a hopeless case. This was exactly what Babs had done to him. Why was he throwing it in _Kori's_ face?

"I'm horrible, that's why," he muttered. "A retarded jerk."

This couldn't happen again.

* * *

I know, rushed yet again. I'm sorry to all Babs supporters, but you have no idea how difficult it is for me (HUGE RobStar fan here) to write Dick/Babs fluff. Excuse me while I go throw up... 

And I know at least one of you will ask, so YES, it is VERY necessary...


	10. Chapter 10: The Twist

My third chapter in like 3 days! Hahahaha...ha...ha...?

Disclaimer: I don't own TT

* * *

"Kori! Kori, are you okay?" asked Karen worriedly, bursting into the room. Kori had been crying for the past hour and, needless to say, didn't look her best.

"I'm fine. I just want to be alone," she muttered. She grabbed a pillow, stuffed her face in it, ad started crying again. Karen ignored her request and sat down next to her, drawing her into a hug and patting her shoulder affectionately.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing." Karen got up for a second and brought a brush and a wet cloth. She dabbed lightly at Kori's eyes and brushed out all the tangles Kori had gotten from expressing her sadness so very _violently_. "That isn't necessary."

"I know. I just don't like seeing you look miserable." Kori smiled halfheartedly. "Listen, I'm gonna go get Rachel real quick, and then we'll have a nice long talk, and everything'll be alright, okay? Just stay here." Karen got up and left before Kori could stop her. Not two seconds after, there was a knock at the door.

Kori opened it, astonished. "Back already?" Then she saw who it was, and nearly closed it again. "Oh. You."

"Yeah," said Richard awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "Can we talk?"

"What do you think we're doing right now?"

"Kori."

"Yes?"

He sighed. "Do you really have to make this harder than it already is? I'm sorry, okay? I get it, it was bad, it was wrong, and I shouldn't have--"

"Do you hear yourself? You expect me to _forgive_ you? Don't you remember _hating_ Babs for doing the same thing to you? Heck, you hated _me_ because you thought I'd probably do that to some boyfriend of mine! And now you're acting like _I'm_ the one who's taking this too seriously?"

"Do you hate me?" he asked softly.

Kori sighed. "I don't--" That's all she got out before Richard started kissing her like there was no tomorrow. She resignedly sunk into it, knowing she could never stay angry at him, whether she wanted to or not. _At least he doesn't taste like Babs anymore, _Kori thought, smiling wryly against his lips. She'd missed him too much to be mad. She pressed a little harder on his mouth, but stopped in surprise when he didn't respond as usual. When he pulled away, Kori thought he looked even more miserable than before, but didn't voice it. "I--I'm sorry. About whatever I did to get you mad at me. I promise Steven and I are just friends, and we'll always be like that, really. And--"

Richard pressed his finger to her lips and shook his head. "Don't apologize, Kori. Come with me."

She followed him out the door, only to meet up with Karen and Rachel. "Go ahead," Karen said. "Rachel and I don't have much to do anyways, we'll wait until you get back." Kori and Richard walked out of the hotel and on to the beach. He kept at least a one foot distance between them, and Kori wondered if he was still angry. Nothing made sense.

All of a sudden, he turned to her, a kind of seriousness etched on to his features that she'd never seen before.

"I think we need to take a break."

And her world came crashing down around her.

* * *

Richard thought hard about what he'd said to Babs earlier. _Do I really love Kori? _He wasn't sure. These past two weeks had been so confusing. But he knew three things. 

1. He cared about Kori.

2. He didn't want to see her hurt.

3. He was the one hurting her.

It had to be fixed, no matter what the cost to him. He hated to see Kori cry, and more than that, he hated to be the cause of it. Finding only one possible solution, he banished it. It was too horrible to consider. But he had no other options.

He knocked at Kori's door, glad it was her that opened it and not Karen or Rachel or somebody she might have narrated...certain events to. Not unexpectedly, she began yelling at him. As if he wasn't upset by his decision enough. "Kori...do you hate me?" he asked. _Please say no. Please say you never will, no matter what happens..._

"I don't--" That was all he wanted to hear. He kissed her suddenly. For all he knew, it might be their last. He never wanted it to end, but he was running out of air. She started to apologize about Steven, but he stopped her, feeling more guilty every second.

He took her to the beach, just as he had promised, and they walked for a little bit. _Don't put it off any longer. _Turning to her, he started off as bluntly as he could. "I think we need to take a break." He was sure she was about to faint. Her face had gone whiter than a sheet, and her eyes wider than he'd thought possible. _This is the last time, Kori, I promise. The last time I ever hurt you._

"We...we _are_ on a break, Richard. Vacation...remember?" she answered slowly, disbelieving. He swallowed, shaking his head.

"No, Kori...I mean...us."

"You want to break up." Richard winced. He'd tried to avoid that wording.

"...Yeah."

"Why?" she asked, looking ready to cry again. He turned away.

"Kori, I can't explain, not right now..."

"So what was that? Back at the hotel room? Just kissed me because you felt like it, did you?"

"Kori, please, just--"

"Just what? 'Not make it hard on you?' I don't think it's hard for you at all, _Dick. _You wanted to go back to...oh, I get it. It's Babs, isn't it? You were never over her, and I'll never be better than her." She shook the tears out of her eyes, and a hard glare came over them. He didn't like it at all. "You know what, G_rayson_?" _She hasn't called me that since...we stopped hating each other... _"I think we had this right the first time."

Her gaze was so cold Richard visibly shrunk. This wasn't the Kori he knew. Or rather, it was, but he hadn't seen the bad side of Kori for over six months.

As she walked away, accepting their break-up as official, he knew he'd made the worst mistake yet.

* * *

Ah...the classic break-up. "We had it right the first time" refers to when they first met, how Kori and Richard hated each other. Kori thinks they were better off that way. 

I bet you guys weren't expecting that!

Pulls hair out in frustration. I had such a great idea for their breakup and now it's GONE! It wouldn't stick around for me to write it in the chapter, oh no...

Sorry this is so short, but I think the point is made, no?


	11. Chapter 11: The Aftermath

I meant for this chapter to be long, but I kinda split it over a couple of chapters. Just so you guys know, this story is about two-thirds over.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or anything else mentioned below.

* * *

She couldn't believe it. She _refused_ to believe it. They--she and Richard--were _over_. Done. Not together anymore. And to think, it was only a week ago she'd thought they would last forever, no matter what the obstacles. _Stupid, stupid girl, _she sneered at herself. _As if. High school, remember? It's a miracle you lasted as long as you did._

It was the last straw. She wasn't taking anything else from him. This vacation had been a living nightmare. She felt like crying until she passed out from dehydration, but she wasn't going to. Oh no. She was going to show Mr. Dickhead Grayson she didn't _need_ him. He wouldn't see one tear, one regretful glance. She was going to pretend she was happy about the break up if it killed her. _It probably will. _

_But I should have been like this from the start. I was completely dependant on him. _It was true. Richard had been her _life_. Though she'd never told him, she'd loved him more than anything. Not only that, but he'd introduced her to his friends, he'd let her live in his house, and she spent any and all extra time within a one foot vincity of him. _That's crazy, _Kori realized. She'd had no idea. Now, she had nothing.

What would she do? Where would she go? Helplessness overpowered her, and she stumbled a little bit. _I can't do this._

_You can. You have to. You'll show him, Kori._

_I hate this. Why me? First Xavier, and now Richard. They always end horribly. _

_That's not helping. _Kori approached the door and took a deep breath, vowing not to let any emotion show on her face.

"Hey Kori. How'd it go with Dick?" asked Karen as Kori walked into the room. She and Rachel had waited for her, as promised, until she got back from her walk.

Kori shrugged, sitting down and sucessfully faking a smile. "Not much. He just broke up with me."

It took a few seconds for them to realize what Kori had said, because she was still smiling, and they assumed she would never be smiling at something like this. But once it hit them, even Rachel jumped up with surprise. "WHAT?"

"It's not that big of a deal. He just wanted to date Babs, so he broke up with me. He hated me anyways, he said. So everything's back to normal. Back like it _should _be." She had twisted some of the facts, sure, but that was okay. She didn't want them to be surprised when she made it obvious how much she hated Richard tomorrow. Karen and Rachel stared, wide-eyed, at her. Rachel was the first to speak.

"Wow...I can't believe Dick would do something like that. Kori, this is insane. _He's_ insane. This isn't possible. You..." she started, trying to find the right words, but became speechless.

Kori shrugged again. "Like I said, no big deal. I talked to Gar, Rachel. He says he calmed down a lot."

"Oh." Kori plastered on another fake smile and stretched.

"It's getting kinda late. I'm gonna go down and eat dinner and then go to sleep. See you in the morning."

* * *

Richard made his way back to the hotel slowly. His entire body ached, though he couldn't remember doing any strenous exercises to make it so. He could practically feel the huge, gaping abyss in his heart where Kori had once been, and it made him too miserable to think. He just wanted to barge back into her room and hold her again, even if she made him sit through some other chick flick. Any moment spent with her was golden. Unfortunately, spending time with her was no longer an option. 

_At least, _he considered, _she'll be happier now. Without me in the picture. _Richard sat down on the sand, watching the dying sun fade into the waves, and watching the first stars peek out in the night sky. It was the start of a whole new kind of darkness for him. He waited for a while after it was completely dark, to be sure he wouldn't bump into Kori on the way in. That was the last thing he needed right now. He'd probably end up begging her to take him back. Sighing, he stood up and continued his journey.

Slowly but surely, he found his way back to his hotel room. Vic and Gar were literally on top of the video games, their thumbs manuvering expertly and at a lightning pace. Vic paused the game as he saw Richard come in. "Hey man. Who died?"

Richard didn't answer, getting a pop instead and chugging half of it down. "Dick? You there?" asked Gar.

"I don't feel like talking."

"Seriously, what's up? You look like...man, I don't even know."

He didn't want to tell them. He couldn't even imagine their reactions. But they had a right to know. He sighed. "I...I broke up with Kori."

Richard hadn't seen Gar's fist until it connected with his face. He staggered back as Gar prepared to hand out another blow, but thankfully, Vic held him back. "You idiot! Stupid, meatbrained freak! What were you thinking? You've got to be kidding me!" The scrawny guy struggled against Vic's arms, but couldn't break free, so he spat at Richard. "She doesn't deserve that!" _Don't you think I know?_

Richard clutched his aching jaw, not even bothering to glare. "I said, I don't feel like talking about it."

"Dick," said Vic seriously. "Tell us you're joking." Richard shook his head. "What in the world possessed you to break up with Kori?"

"I have my reasons, okay? Just...leave me alone." He didn't care how childish it sounded. He'd never felt worse in his life. All this, plus the daunting thought of having to face the rest of his friends tomorrow with this information, was not helping. He wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

"We'll give you one night, Dick. Tomorrow, you're spilling the whole story." Richard nodded, grateful for having Vic. Gar still looked ready to kill him, and for once, Richard didn't doubt that he could.

"G'night," he muttered. Hopefully, being as mentally exhausted as he was would be enough to lull him to sleep, despite the heavy weight of guilt on his mind.

* * *

And...yeah...that was really boring, sorry. 


	12. Chapter 12: The Move

Thank you to **cartoonfire, caresse345, lil love fan, Black Raven 13, cartoonstar, BerryDrops, SuPeR HyPeR chick 101, TAUT13, lilacprincessmay, FairieAngelx3o, RavenSis, so not telling, XxNightfirexX, final frost bite fantasy, RoseXxxXThorn, TerraBB4Eva, 4ever Singing, clueless dummii, **and **Crimson Black **for reviewing the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or anything else mentioned below.

* * *

"I'm going to be out all of today, Karen," Kori said suddenly. She had just remembered. 

Karen frowned. "Why?"

"Just...taking care of a few things." Karen still looked suspicious, and Kori had a feeling it was because Karen was still worried about her, though her act was going very well. It was only the morning after the break-up, but Kori was pretty sure she almost had Karen convinced she didn't care, which was saying something. Rachel was a lot more iffy about it, but with time, Kori knew she would shrug it off as well.

The redhead hadn't dared to voice her real emotions at all, not even when she was alone. No one could know anything was wrong. She was sure everyone had labeled her as an emotionally-malfunctioning prep with tear glands on the overdrive, but she would have to prove them wrong, too. As impossible as it sounded, she had to seem like she was better than ever without Richard. And, given the circumstances, she thought she was being pretty good. Kori doubted anyone was able to fathom the heartbreak she was going through. And it was her first time hiding her emotions, too. Not bad.

"You'd better let us know this time, though. We thought you'd been kidnapped or something..." Karen rolled out of bed, shaking her head at Rachel's neatly folded covers. "I swear, that girl has no idea there are maids at this place." Kori forced a laugh, ignoring the sharp pain in her heart it caused.

"I'm starved. They'd better have those bagels in..."

They met up with the rest of the gang down in the restaurant. Unfortunately, this also included Richard. Kori tried not to pay attention to the comeback of his sunglasses, but she frowned. He never wore them indoors anymore. Outside, all the time. But not in buildings. And was it just her, or did he look a little paler?

_Stop, Kori. Wishful thinking. He doesn't care about you anymore._

"Hey, Kori, how's it going?" asked Vic a little too cheerfully. Gar walked up to her as well, a far-too-large smile on his face_. He told them_. She forced a smile on her own, waving.

"Great, how about you guys? Gar, did you...?" She gestured with her eyes to Rachel, but Gar shook his head. "Oh, okay. Hey, you know what? This entire vacation we haven't gone to the beach once! We need to go sometime before it's over," she continued loudly, hoping Richard could hear the indifference in her voice. Kori didn't want to look.

"Sure! How about after breakfast?" said Gar.

"No, not today, I'm kinda busy. Maybe tomorrow?" answered Kori.

"Can't," Vic cut in. "I'm gonna be out all day with Sa...a friend."

"A friend, my foot," Karen muttered darkly to Kori. Vic caught it, but pretended he wasn't listening.

"Maybe after that...and I'll have to check with Steven, he'll want to come, too." She had added that last part just to annoy Richard, and, judging by the sound of breaking glass, it had worked. _No wishful thinking, Kori...he doesn't care, remember? _Richard's glass had 'slipped' out of his hand and fallen to the floor. He stared at it in awe, as if he had never seen anything like a broken cup before. A waiter came by, throwing a disgusted glance at him, and cleaned up the pieces.

"Whoops," he mumbled.

"And the Biggest Klutz Award goes to..." Kori breathed, loud enough for him to hear. Richard glanced at her, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking with the shades over his eyes. It scared her a little bit.

Breakfast was as loud and boisterous as everyone could make it, in an attempt to keep things from getting too awkward. Kori saw everyone throw Richard their fair share of death glares, though (holy cow, that was a lotta rhyming). _That's the only reason_, she decided. _The only reason he's distraught at all is because his friends are mad at him for breaking up with me._

After breakfast, Kori left immediately. She took the bus downtown and flagged down a taxi from there. "Where to, Miss?" the forty-something, bored looking driver asked.

"Wayne Manor." Though the place was nearly two hours away, the address wasn't needed.

She paid the driver extra to wait for her and walked up to the front gate. The guard smiled at her, tipping his cap. "Morning, Miss Anders."

Kori swallowed, smiling back. "Hi, Mr. Dawson." He let her in without question. After all, she pretty much lived there. Until now.

Alfred opened the door when she rang, frowning slightly. "Good morning, Miss Anders. I was not aware you were all back so soon."

"Oh, we're not, Alfred. I just had to get a couple of things." He let her in, and Kori made her way to her room.

She hoped no one would notice what she was taking until she was gone. She and Richard had broken up, which meant she could no longer live here. They weren't even friends. She needed to get all of her stuff and get out, and she needed to do it now. It would be horribly awkward to do it while Richard was there. Quickly and quietly, she sorted through her drawers, smushing all of her clothes into the other suitcase she'd brought from her old house. It took her five minutes to get all of her clothes cleared out, since a lot of them were at the hotel. All small personal belongings were swept into her purse. Then, she raided her bathroom, clearing the cabinet and retrieving her toothbrush. All that remained in the room now were a few photoframes, all containing pictures of herself and Richard. _He can keep those, _she thought disgustedly. _Do whatever he wants with them. I don't care anymore. _She made it to the doorway and looked back one last time, sighing quietly. She would miss it here.

Kori nearly made it to the door of Wayne Manor, just nearly. "Kori?" She stopped in her tracks, trying not to curse her ill fortune. She turned, another fake smile gracing her face. Those were getting quite common.

"Hello, Bruce. How are you?"

"Fine, thank you. Those clothes you took weren't enough?"

"Um..." She shrugged, not able to keep up with more lies.

"Right. Well. Don't let me keep you waiting. Do you need a ride back?" Kori shook her head, waving goodbye. She had the urge to go up and embrace the man. Bruce had been like a father to her, and now...who knew when she would see him again.

"Leaving so soon, Miss Anders?" asked Dawson. Kori nodded, forcing down the lump in her throat.

"Bye, Mr. Dawson." He tipped his cap again, and Kori climbed into the taxi.

"Back, Miss?" asked the driver.

"No." She gave him a different address, and he drove her. Again, she paid him a little extra to wait for her. Pulling her bag out, she laboriously climbed up the stairs and rang the doorbell. 'I'LL GET IT!' yelled someone inside, and the door opened to reveal a seven year old girl.

Galfore had a wife and three children. They all loved their 'sister,' Kori, dearly. Suneta, the eldest, squealed as she saw Kori, barreling into her and nearly knocking her down. "Daddy, daddy, it's Kori!"

"Korina?" asked Galfore breathlessly. He was holding the youngest, merely an infant, and the middle child, a girl of four who clung to his hand sucking her thumb, and was in a suit. Obviously, he was having a hard time getting ready to go to work. Instinctively, Kori dropped her suitcase and held her arms out for the baby, whom Galfore handed over with relief. "Thank you. Suni, go find your mother and tell her Kori is here."

"That's not necessary, Galfore," Kori said hurriedly. "I have to go in a little while. But I..." She hadn't practiced at all. Words weren't needed, however. Galfore took one looks at her suitcase and understood. Kori had no place to stay, but unfortunately, Galfore had almost no room.

"Come. You may share a room with Suni, goodness knows she won't mind. Richard Grayson...?"

"...Is no longer dating me." He asked no more questions.

"Kori! I have not seen you for two weeks! How are you, my bumgorf?" asked the cheery, booming voice of Galfore's wife. The tall, plump woman bustled over and hugged Kori tightly, kissing her forehead. "How is your vacation?"

"Fine, auntie. But I have to go right now. I will be back in two more weeks, hopefully." Kori hugged Galfore and his wife, not forgetting the three kids, and handed Galfore back his youngest one. She sniffed the air. "Is that...?"

"Oh no! Our lunch is burning!" Galfore's wife cried. Kori giggled slightly as she hurried away. She'd never known a busier, cozier household than Galfore's. Kori lugged her suitcase up to Suneta's room and then ran down to the taxi.

"Can we go back to the hotel now, please?"

* * *

Richard grabbed his sunglasses out of his nightstand drawer right after he looked in the mirror. He hadn't slept at all last night, worrying about facing today. He looked like a raccoon, what with the dark rings under his eyes. "Good. You're up." Richard turned around, trying not to groan when he saw Gar and Vic. They didn't look happy. 

"Yeah."

"Why?" Gar asked harshly.

Richard sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Look, you guys...I don't want to talk about it, just _please_ leave me alone."

Gar grabbed the front of his shirt. "That isn't an option."

Anger flaring, Richard shoved him away as hard as he could. "I asked you three freaking times to leave me alone! So _do_ it!"

"We're her friends, too, Dick, and we want an explanation!" exclaimed Vic.

"Maybe I don't want to give one! Can't you drop it? I'm sick and tired of you guys riding on about how I never do anything right! So shut up, I don't want to hear it!" He glared at them before remembering they couldn't see his eyes, and locked himself in the bathroom to take a nice, long shower.

He went downstairs for breakfast without consulting them, but he could hear them following him. By the time he'd set his plate at a table and grabbed a cup to get something to drink, everyone else had come down too. Including Kori.

He tried not to listen to her conversation with Vic and Gar, but it was impossible. She was louder than normal, and at the name 'Steven,' he drpped his cup in surprise and anger. No way was she already planning to go to date Steven. He had just broken up with her. That wasn't possible.

"And the Biggest Klutz Award goes to..." she muttered to him. He stared disbelievingly at her. _She can't see, Grayson, you've got those stupid glasses on because of the circles under your eyes. _He gave up, getting another cup and sitting down to eat. He hated this. He just _had_ to love Kori so much...

Breakfast was horrible. Vic and Gar avoided him; Roy, Alan, Wally, Jenny, Angelina, and Nicole had no idea whatsoever what was going on; and Karen and Rachel seemed bent on killing him, though they claimed their food had flown all over Richard because they had 'tripped and fell.'

Afterwards, Kori left to who-knows-where, but he wasn't complaining. It hurt to stand _next_ to her. He was pretty pathetic.

"Hey, Dick, how's it going?" asked Babs cheerily, appearing out of nowhere. Call him crazy, but it felt good to have someone there who wasn't angry, even if that person was basically the reason he had broken up with Kori.

"Babs."

"You okay? You're on vacation, you know, not at a funeral." He didn't answer. "Dick?"

"What?" he snapped. Babs recoiled, hurt, and he sighed. "Sorry. I don't want to talk."

She laid a hand on his shoulder, smiling a little bit. "You can tell me anything, you know that, right?"

"I..."

"Hey! Babs! Get away from Dick!" yelled Vic angrily, passing them by. Richard stood up quickly, sure Vic had gotten the wrong idea and was about to beat the crap out of him. "I can't believe you, man! One day without Kori and you already got back with some--"

"Kori broke up with you?" Babs asked in surprise.

Richard shook his head. "No. _I_ broke up with _Kori_. And, I'm not back with Babs, Vic, what gives you that idea?"

"Then why are you all mopey? Shouldn't you be glad?" Babs persisted.

"Yeah, _Dick. _Shouldn't you be glad you broke poor Kori's heart and--"

"SHUT UP!" Richard yelled. Vic and Babs quieted immediately. "Just stop. She's fine without me, you've seen her, so don't tell me she's miserable! And you know what?" They didn't, and Richard wasn't feeling quite so articulate anymore. "Nevermind. C'mon, Babs, let's go."

"You're not going anywhere!" Vic cut in. "I never want to see you near Babs again--"

"What are you, his mom?" screeched Babs. "You have no right to tell him what to do! I've seen you with Sarah!" Vic's eyes widened. "That's right! And I'm pretty sure you have a girlfriend, and it's not her! At least, if Dick _wanted_ to date me, he wouldn't cheat on his girlfriend, he'd end the relationship first! We're leaving." Babs pulled Richard away from an open-mouthed Vic and out of the hotel.

"Thanks, Babs," Richard muttered, looking back. "I had no idea about Vic and--what was her name?--Sarah."

"It's no big deal, the guy had it coming. How about we go out somewhere and forget about this mess, okay? Just for a little bit."

"Yeah. Sounds great."

They had been roaming around town for a of couple hours, with Richard hoping he wouldn't run into Kori anywhere and Babs desperately trying to get his mind off the other redhead, when Richard's cell phone rang. He scooted off to the side, signalling he would take a minute to Babs, and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Morning, Dick. It's Bruce."

Richard frowned. "Um...hi."

"I've got a meeting in five minutes, so I'll cut to the chase. Kori came over here about five minutes ago, and she supposedly brought another suitcase there. She took everything, Dick. There's nothing left in her room. I'm assuming she hasn't _really_ ruined a month's worth of clothing."

"What? She took..." It made sense. Richard groaned. He now had to explain his breakup with Kori to Bruce. Lovely. Especially considering that Bruce treated Kori like his own daughter. "Bruce...Kori moved out."

* * *

Okay, I know Batman supposedly hates Starfire or something like that, but...excuse my weird imagination, please? Let's just pretend that Bruce is okay with her. It'll be important later, I promise. 


	13. Chapter 13: The ExEx

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or anything else mentioned below, but I DO own the 'I Hate Richard Grayson' Club. I founded it this morning. We have cookies!

Thank you to **4ever Singing, cartoonfire, cartoonstar, BerryDrops, Crimson Black, caresse345, Koriand'r Grayson, lilacprincessmay, lil love fan, SuPeR HyPeR chick 101, FairieAngelx3o, Royalfire14, SaoirseWaveglow, TerraBB4Eva,** and **RavenSis** for reviewing the last chapter!

Special thanks to **SuPeR HyPeR chick 101** for being my 200th reviewer!

* * *

"Hey Kori, what's with you and Dick?" asked Jenny the next morning. Kori's eyes glazed over, but she blinked back tears. This was harder than she thought, and getting harder every day. 

"Oh, we broke up," she answered, not meeting Jenny's eye.

"What!" gasped Angelina. Kori grinned.

"That's what Karen and Rachel said, too."

"And you're not...upset?" questioned Nicole.

Kori waved it off. "No, of course not. I knew it was coming. Besides, it's his loss, not mine." She shrugged, rustling through the drawers to find her clothes for the day. "Don't worry about waiting up, I'll be down for breakfast later." They each hugged her, even Jenny, though it wasn't her thing. "You guys really don't have to worry about me."

"You know we will anyway, Kor."

They left, probably to tell their boyfriends (and Roy) the startling news, and Kori stopped moving around. She sighed, her facade falling for a second before she caught herself. _I wonder what Richard is doing right now..._

She shook her head and got up. It had been a while since she'd spoken with Steven.

When she knocked at the door, however, she was met with a big surprise. "Nicole? What are you doing here?"

She blushed. "Nothing. I was about to go down to breakfast, but I wanted to ask Steven first, and we just ended up talking." Steven appeared at the door, too.

"Hey, Kori. What's up?"

Kori couldn't help the sly grin that crawled across her face. For once, it was genuine. "Oh, nothing. I hope I wasn't interrupting. I'm guessing Nicole told you about us probably going to the beach tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I'm free."

"See you." _Aw..._

Kori had no idea what to do now, and watched T.V. for a few hours. She was nearly falling asleep when she heard voices outside her door. Frowning, she got off the bed and pressed her ear to the door when she heard her name crop up.

"...Kori'd be upset." It was Karen.

"We have to tell her, she'd probably want to know," Rachel answered earnestly. The doorknob turned, and Kori scurried away, trying to pretend she hadn't been listening.

"Later, Rachel. Not right now." The two stepped into the room, not noticing her at first.

"She's going to find out eventually--" Karen stopped on seeing Kori with a book in her hands. "Kori! Hey, girl, how's it going?"

"Fine. How about you?"

"Great. Wonderful, actually. Amazing," Karen replied nervously. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"You heard us, didn't you?"

Kori nodded, closing her book, which had been upside-down. "What did Karen not want to tell me?"

Karen sighed, glaring at Rachel, before lending a hand to Kori to help her out of bed. "It's...to tell the truth, I'm not even sure if you'd be upset or not, with the way you've been acting, but...let's go to lunch, you'll see then." Kori had a sneaking suspicion that whatever this was, it had to do with Richard.

Karen and Rachel were far more solemn than usual, and Kori could barely get a word out of them. Dread crawled in the pit of her stomach. It couldn't be that bad, could it? What was the worst Richard could possibly do? Was he hurt? Was he okay? Her imagination ran wild.

"Oh," Kori said in the most uncaring voice she could muster as they reached the restaurant. Inside, she was screaming with rage and betrayal.

Much to the distaste of nearby waiters and customers, Babs had taken her place on Richard's lap and they were currently _very_ busy.

* * *

Richard didn't even go down for breakfast the next morning. He was completely brain dead. Or at least, that was how Babs had put it.

Thank goodness for her. If it wasn't for Babs, he'd have probably gone insane by now. The rest of his friends had found out about the predicament, and joined the 'I Hate Richard Grayson' Club. Bruce was in it too, though he didn't voice it. Babs was the only person on his side, his own personal angel.

"Dick?" She knocked on the door. "You there?"

"It's open." Babs came in, smiling and sitting on his bed while he fumbled around for his sunglasses.

"Whoa, Dick, you look like you slept with eyeblack on. What did you do all night?"

"Try to go to sleep and fail miserably," he answered crankily.

Babs laughed. "That's obvious. Did you eat?" He shook his head. "Are you _planning_ to eat?" Again, he shook his head. "Dick..."

"What?"

"Starving yourself isn't the answer."

"Thanks. I had no idea. Just so you know, I'm not hungry."

"Sure. Just eat a little bit, will you? Or you'll pass out from malnutrition, and then what am I going to do with you?" Richard wasn't really listening, but he agreed to go downstairs and have a bite to eat before they headed out for the morning.

They ended up back in Richard's room, because he didn't feel like going anywhere. Babs brought a pack of playing cards, and they played poker until Richard's poker face was frozen on his head. All problems had disappeared for a while, until Vic and Gar came in. Vic immediately began to shuffle out again, but Gar frowned. "What're _you_ doing here?"

"Playing cards," Babs answered curtly. "Is that against the law now?"

"For you," Gar sneered. "You're probably the one who made Dick cheat in the first place, aren't you?"

"Who told you I cheated? I never..." He _had_. Even Gar was smart enough to figure that out.

"Shut up, Dick, I wasn't talking to you."

Richard had had enough. He pulled Babs up by the wrist and stormed out the door. "We're leaving."

"Where?"

"Far away from _them_."

They were halfway downtown when Babs finally stopped him. "Dick...I think we lost them." He sat down on the grass and buried his head in his hands, ready to rip his hair out. They were his _friends_, they were supposed to understand. Obviously, he only had one real friend here. Babs sat down next to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "It'll be okay."

He wanted it all to go away. He was tired of feeling pain, and was definitely not going to do so for the rest of his life. He grabbed Babs around the waist and kissed her. She tried to pull away in surprise, but he didn't let her, and eventually, she relaxed. He broke their kiss reluctantly, gazing down at (he hoped) his new girlfriend. She grinned up at him, hugging him. "I promise I won't make the same mistake this time, Dick."

"I know." He hugged back, his heart pounding in his chest. This wasn't right, not at all. Worse, his friends were going to...he didn't even want to think about it. But he'd become so deseperately lonely without Kori. It was high time he'd done something about it.

"You want to go back now? Better to break it to them sooner than later." He sighed and nodded, helping her up.

Karen and Rachel were talking by the entrance, or rather, arguing about where to go next. When they saw him, however, with his arm around Babs's waist, their glares were so cold Richard nearly dropped his stony demeanor to go and cower in a dark corner. They backed away from him, as if he had some horrible disease, and went up the stairs. "Well, they know now. You wanna get lunch?" he asked Babs.

As they were waiting for the waiters to come back with their order, Babs kissed his cheek softly. "I know this is hard for you." He shrugged. "Thanks." He pulled her on his lap and started to kiss her on the lips.

They had been going for a while when something gooey was smashed all over their faces. He pulled away with a start, and saw his own surprised, mush-covered expression mirrored on Babs's face. Rachel had taken her seat across from them, and was holding a plate with whatever was all over his face. "You make me sick," she hissed. The rest of the group was there, too. Most of them looked angry beyond anything Richard had ever imagined, except Kori. She just stood there and smirked.

"No one asked you to sit here," Richard spat at Rachel. She held up the plate again, threatening to throw it at him. Babs grabbed a napkin and started to wipe her face, but Richard pulled her up again. "I didn't _ask_ for you guys to follow me. You want to make me miserable? Fine. Go ahead. You're doing a great job. But I'm leaving right now, and if _anyone_ decides they're going to tag along just to humiliate me in front of the whole city, you're going to regret it. C'mon, Babs." He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the restaurant, only turning back to say, "I hate you guys."

He went to the bathroom to wash up, and when he came out, Babs was waiting, her face goo-free as well. "Sorry about that. I can't believe..." He shook his head. "Do you want to go to a different restaurant?"

Babs nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck. "If they're not supportive, I don't care. I want you to know that. I'm just glad to have you back. I'd missed you so much." He wished he could say the same for her.

* * *

Any new haters? We've already got me, Vic, Gar, Rachel, Karen, Roy, Alan, Wally, Angelina, Xavier, and Jenny...Nicole's too nice :( The more, the merrier!


	14. Chapter 14: The Beach

As always, thanks so much to the reviewers!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans

* * *

Kori grabbed a towel out of her suitcase, wrapping it around her swimsuit-clad body. There wasn't a cloud in the sky outside, and it was well over eighty degrees. Going to the beach would be a blast. _Or at least, it might have been, if Richard hadn't..._She rid herself of the thought. Of course Richard had broken up with her to be with Babs again. She'd known it _before_ he broke up with her. But that didn't mean it hurt any less to see them together.

"Hey Kori, you ready?" asked Karen. Kori was still a bit annoyed that Karen hadn't wanted to tell her about Richard and Babs's relationship at all, but didn't show it. The last thing she needed was to alienate herself from another person.

"Yeah. What about Rachel?"

"She's almost ready. Still a little mad about the bikini thing." Kori forced a laugh. _Take your time, Rachel. I'm in no hurry. _She was _not_ looking forward to an entire day of pretending to be happy while Richard and Babs were making out on a blanket right in front of her.

When they got down there, Steven, Angelina, Nicole, Jenny, Wally, Roy, and Alan were already splashing around in the waves. Donna, Harry, Hot Spot, and a girl Kori assumed was Sarah were there as well. Karen glared as Vic came, not even greeting her boyfriend and walking to Harry and Hot Spot instead. Kori said nothing, not knowing whose side to pick. Rachel covered herself up in a towel and sat on the beach chair, pulling out a book to read.

"Kori!" cried Steven. "Over here!" Kori tested the waters, decided they were okay, and waded out to where Steven was. "How are you? Hey, it's Babs...and Dick?"

Kori didn't even look. "So it is."

"Kori, I think you should take a look, he's--"

"Doesn't matter, Steven, do you want to play Marco Polo?"

"Kori--"

"Ignore them!" That shut Steven up. He looked so confused, Kori would have laughed, if she could have. She very nearly used her fingers to turn the corners of her mouth up in a placid smile, because they did not seem to want to move on their own. "Now. You guys want to play Marco Polo?"

Gar had disappeared somewhere, Rachel wasn't going anywhere without her towel, and it was an unspoken decision that Richard and Babs weren't allowed, but everyone else was up for it, childish game though it was. Jenny was 'it' first, closing her eyes and spinning three times in the water. "Marco!"

"Polo!"

She stood still for a moment, then dove to the right, catching Roy. He groaned. "You got _salt water _in my _hair!_"

Wally smirked. "Yeah, man. If you're swimming in the ocean, it's probably going to happen." Roy huffed, closing his eyes and spinning as well.

"Marco!"

"Polo!"

"Cheater," Donna said in amusement. "He's peeking."

"How else am I supposed to check you out?" Roy replied.

Donna rolled her eyes. "Flirt."

He grinned. "That's right." Catching her off guard, he jumped and tagged her. "You're it!"

And so it went on. Alan was the only one who was never picked, due to his amazing swimming ability. Kori was one of the last, tagged by Karen. She spun and stopped, her sense of direction lost completely. "Marco?"

"Polo!"

"Hey Kori...I'm over here..." came Alan's taunt. Kori's arm whipped out to the right, meeting only with air. "Nope, I'm over here now." She made a grab right in front of her, but he was gone. "Back here, Kori." She huffed in frustration, spinning around only to lose her balance and splash under the waves.

One muscular arm hooked under her neck, and the other under her knees, bringing her back up to the surface. She held on to her rescuer for dear life, choking out the salt water and trying to breathe at the same time. Once she had managed to do so, she let go. "Thanks, Steven."

"No problem, Kori. You okay? That's a lot of seawater you just swallowed."

She waved it off. "I'll be fine. Leave it to Alan to turn Marco Polo into a death trap. You're supposed to be the nicest one of the guys."

"Not in the water. You better watch out." Roy hummed the Jaw's theme as Alan dove under, grabbing Angelina unexpectedly. She shrieked, plugging her nose before Alan tugged her beneath the waves.

"That didn't look rehearsed at all," Wally snickered. "Hey, look, they're making out down there!"

A synchronized, "We'd rather not," echoed across the water. A new sound joined it.

"You never participate in_ anything_! What's your problem? You always have some stupid emo book with you and you're the worst ref_ ever_!" It was Gar, and he did not sound happy. Richard and Babs were currently engaged, so there was only one person he could be yelling at.

"Oh no," Kori muttered before wading towards the shore. Karen followed her in.

"I don't see why _you_ care," Rachel commented calmly. That was worse news. She was going to save it and blow up at Gar in the end, and the guy might end up anywhere. "Why don't you go ask Terra to join you, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to." Rachel picked up her book again, but Gar pulled it out of her hands and threw it. Coincidentally, it hit Richard in the head.

"Yeah, I guess she would be, too. But I'm not asking her, am I? You think it's so cool to be completely emotionless, that everyone respects you? Yeah, they do, only because they're afraid of you! Maybe if you'd stop pushing everyone who cared about you away so much, you wouldn't be so suspicious all the time! I'm sure I could've had a perfect relationship with Terra if I wanted, but I chose _you_. But if you don't want help, then who am I to try?" Gar stormed away before Kori could reach there. Rachel never lost her cool. She was about to get up and go into the hotel, too, but Kori grabbed her arm.

"Rachel?"

The Gothic girl smirked. "Who knew Gar could say three intelligent sentences in one paragraph, or in _any _paragraph for that matter? Although, I suppose they would have been more profound had he been wearing something other than those ducky swim trunks."

Karen's face fell. "Rachel, that's probably not the approach you should take to this..." Rachel was already walking back to the hotel. "Okay, then, just don't listen." Hot Spot came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"It's okay, Karen. Things can't work out all the time." Behind them, Kori could see Vic practically spitting fire. Karen turned around to glare at him.

"No, I guess they can't."

No one really felt like staying at the beach anymore, so most people went back to the hotel to shower and change. Rachel wasn't back at their room, but Kori was too miserable otherwise to be worried. She decided to head outside, since it was still a beautiful day. It would be a shame to waste it.

Kori was walking aaround the park when a familiar figure appeared. Xavier. "Hey, cutie. I heard you and Grayson broke up," he greeted, grinning wickedly. Kori took a step back, wondering why there was no one else out here.

"So?"

"So..." Xavier grabbed her arms and pinned her to a tree. "...There's no one here to protect you, now is there?"

For a minute, Kori actually considered screaming for Richard, but stopped. _I have to handle this on my own. _She kicked him right where it hurts, trying to run while he crumpled to the ground. He grabbed her ankle and she fell hard. Twisting around, she flailed her legs, catching him in the jaw. Xavier wasn't about to give up. He reached up and grabbed a bundle of Kori's hair, pulling on it hard enough to rip a few strands out. Kori shrieked involuntarily, clawing at his face. Suddenly, two very familiar muscular arms grabbed Xavier's shoulders and pulled him off of Kori. "What were you thinking!?" Steven yelled. Kori relaxed. She was safe. Steven was here.

"Get away from me!" Xavier yelled back, struggling to escape his cousin's grasp. Struggling was futile, almost comical to watch, and eventually, Xavier stopped, panting. Steven let him go, angrier than Kori had ever seen him. Apparently, he was angrier than Xavier had ever seen him, as well, since the younger Redd was nearly trembling.

"_Never_ touch Kori again, do you hear me? If I ever again see you within ten yards of her, I will not hold back." Steven shoved his cousin away, and Xavier gladly disappeared. He helped Kori up, gently wiping away some of the dirt on her face. "Are you okay?"

Kori nodded, swallowing. "Yeah. Thank you." He shrugged, smiling slightly.

"Helps to know someone who's army-worthy, doesn't it?" Kori laughed weakly.

"I guess." She tried walking, but limped a little on the leg Xavier had grabbed.

"Walk it off, Kori. It'll go away in a little bit." Steven wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his embrace as she hobbled along. "Should I call Dick?"

"No," Kori said, a little more forcefully than she had intended.

They walked along slowly, neither willing to bring up the subject of Richard and Babs. Finally, Steven broke the silence. "Why, Kori?" She was startled by his assumption.

"_He_ broke up with _me_."

"You're kidding." Kori was about to say 'I wish I was,' but stopped herself. No one, not even Steven, could know how she still felt about Richard. They'd hate him more, and Kori was already feeling guilty enough with the amount of hate they were giving him now. Silence stole over them again, but far more comfortable, now that the main reason of worry was gone. Steven let go of her, and she found she could walk on her own now. Still, they went on. "I'm leaving tonight," Steven murmured.

"What? Where?" Kori couldn't help panicking. Steven couldn't leave now. He was one of the only lifelines she had left.

"Set up my dorm. I'm going to college, remember? School starts in August." That meant Nicole was leaving too...Kori stopped, biting her lip. _Two_ of her friends gone. Great. Steven stopped as well, cupping her chin. "You know I'm only a call away."

She nodded, sadness threatening to overtake her. "I know." Steven smiled, resting his forehead against hers.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you more," Kori choked. Before she knew what she was doing, she kissed him lightly.

Steven returned it, pulling away after a little while. "You know we could never be together, Kori. You'll always love Dick." Kori couldn't say anything, she knew he was right. There hadn't been anything in that kiss, not even a little spark. Steven smiled sadly at her resignation, hugging her once more before leaving.

_I'm a hopeless case, _Kori concluded.

* * *

When Richard and Babs walked down to the pool, no one paid any attention to them. He hadn't expected them to. He'd said he hated his friends yesterday, and he'd meant it. The only reason he'd come down to the beach at all was for Babs, because a couple of her friends were there.

Richard spread out a beach towel, inviting his girlfriend over to sit on it. Babs happily obliged, 'missing' the towel and landing on his lap instead. _Oomph! She's heavy...well, Kori was lighter than a feather. Guess I'm just out of shape. _"Whoops," she mumbled coyly, kissing him.

After a while of this, Richard started to feel more sick than he usually did about having the wrong girl here. He sat side by side on the towel with Babs and they talked for a little, until he'd calmed down enough not to feel like he was going to throw up all over her. He heard a scream and glanced over to where everyone else was playing Marco Polo. Kori was flailing, nearly drowning, and he was about to get up and run to save her when Steven swept her out of the water. Richard's throat clogged up as he saw him _holding _Kori. Like they were a couple or something.

_They can be, you know. Kori's not with you anymore. _Richard turned away, unable to erase the image of how happy Kori looked with Steven. They were perfect for each other. Why didn't they just go off and get married right now? It would make _all_ their lives a lot easier. "Dick? You okay?" He shook his head, running his hands through his hair. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought, especially with Steven trying to make his move. "If you want to go back, that's fine, Dick. I don't want you upset from being around your friends."

"It's fine, Babs. Come here."

Richard barely noticed everyone leaving, but managed to follow them into the hotel. He dropped Babs off at her room, giving her a kiss and a promise for a date later, and went to his. "Aw, gross," he muttered to himself. Rachel and Gar were making out on _his _bed. Obviously, whatever problems Gar had had with her earlier had been solved. Doubling back to Babs's room, he asked if he could take a quick shower.

"I'll be right back," Babs said as he came out. "Xavier has all of our suitcases, I've got to get some of my clothes out of there." Richard, reluctant as he was to let her anywhere near Xavier, followed her out into the hallway. "That's funny. Where's Xavier?" He didn't care at the moment, but urged Babs to hurry up so they could head out on their date.

They hit the movies, looking for a nice action/comedy/horror/drama, if any such genre existed. Across the street was a large park, and Richard could make out two people on the path. One had a waterfall of bright red hair; Kori. The other was taller and muscled, with a flash of orangey hair. Steven. As Richard watched in horror, their faces drew closer than he would have allowed in a million years, had he been dating Kori. Then, she kissed him.

Whatever was left of Richard's heart tore into miniscule pieces, and scattered.

Richard could hardly see straight. He was silent all throughout the movie, just thinking. What was he going to do now? He couldn't face Kori. He was sure he'd break down. This was his worst nightmare, Kori falling for some other guy. Well, not his worst, maybe, but it was up there with Kori and his parents dying.

"That was awesome! What did you think? Dick?" He was startled out of his reverie, only to see that the lights had come back on, and everyone was leaving.

"Amazing," he agreed. He didn't even know what the movie's title was, let alone what it had been about. "Listen, Babs, how about we head back to the hotel? I'm not feeling too well right now." Babs felt his forehead worriedly.

"You don't feel too hot, but okay. I think I ate too much popcorn anyway." She kept talking the entire way back, but Richard wasn't listening. He dreaded opening that door and seeing Kori and Steven together. Maybe he could just bolt right now. Babs would stop him, but she would probably be the only one who would notice he was gone. When he _did_ open the door, however, he saw Nicole beaming at him. She hugged him tightly, much to Babs's distaste, and he noticed her suitcases right behind her.

"You're leaving?"

She nodded. "For college. To set up our dorms and what not. I'm so sorry I haven't been talking to you, Dick, but I've been...kinda busy." She blushed. "Anyway, I'll hopefully see you next year, or during whatever business dinner parties Bruce plans to set up."

"Do you need a ride?"

"No, thank you for offering. Steven's giving me a ride, he's leaving too." Richard's eyebrows flew up.

"He's _leaving_? Today?" Nicole nodded. "Oh. Um...see you, Nicole. Good luck. I might have to convince Bruce to throw a couple of dinner parties, then, or maybe I'll come visit you." He hurried off, Babs right behind him.

"Dick? Are you okay? You're acting weird," Babs noted.

"Listen, I'll meet you up some place. I'm just gonna go say goodbye to Steven." Babs nodded reluctantly, heading to her room. Richard turned the other way. He knew he didn't have the right, but he had to find out what was going on between Steven and Kori, if anything. Why would he kiss her, then, and just leave? Or maybe they had been dating since the day he'd broken up with her...that would explain it. He found Steven in the hallway, closing his door. "Hello."

Steven frowned at him. "Did you need something?"

"No. Just came to say goodbye." The redhead shrugged, slinging a laptop bag over his shoulder and pulling out the handles of the two suitcases. He walked by Richard without a word, leaving him even more suspicious.

Before he got to the elevator, though, Steven stopped and turned around. "You promised me you'd take care of her, Dick." The disappointment was evident, and it hurt. Richard recoiled, about to say something, but Steven had waved in farewell just as the elevator doors closed.

_I am! _Richard thought furiously. _She's happier without me, don't you see? _

Too bad Steven wasn't telepathic.

* * *

I think the chapter should have been longer, considering all that happened, but...at least Kori's Xavier troubles are over, right? I know, it was a bad way to end them, but I couldn't think of anything else.

Steven's gone for good, I believe. I was kinda annoyed with him, but I didn't really feel like killing him off, so I sent him to college...wow that sounded weird. And in that case, Nicole (whoever she was, I'm not exactly sure which Titan's character I based her off of) is gone as well. And if you want more info on how Rae and Gar made up, let me know, and I'll put it in some other chapter. If you want this to be a purely RobStar story, and are satisfied with the BBRae as it is, then I won't. Either way, it doesn't matter to me.

Special thanks to nearly everyone for joining the I Hate Richard Grayson club! Lol.


	15. Chapter 15: The Graveyard

Only two or three chapters left after this one!

Thank you to** BerryDrops, cartoonstar, Royalfire14, final frost bite fantasy, ByE ByE RobIn, TerraBB4Eva, RavenSis, caresse345, Koriand'r Grayson, lilacprincessmay, SuPeR HyPeR chick 101, FairieAngelx3o, moonlitsfantasy, XxNightfirexX, lil love fan,** and **cartoonfire **for reviewing the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or The Greatest Fanfiction In The World by Kory Anders Grayson.

* * *

**The Greatest Fanfiction In The World!**

**Dedicated to the "I Hate Richard Grayson" Club**.

Once upon a time, there lived a quick-tempered and idiotic boy named Richard. One day, he met a beautiful redhead named Kory and they fell in love...yaddah, yaddah, blah blah...and you know the rest...

They lived happily ever after...until one day, an evil sorceress (no offense to the Babs-lovers out there) named Babs took Richard away and put him into a "so evil you don't even know how evil it is" spell and made him do anything she wanted. First, she made him KISS HER!! (Yuck...) Next, she made him break poor Kory's heart (gasp!). She got her own glory for a while until a really weird girl named Janine came up to her house one day with a pile of PHYSICS BOOKS! (AAH...THE HORROR!) Babs then soon died of boredom and Janine paid Richard a lesson by selling him rotten girl scout cookies!

THEN they lived happily ever after...well, technically, Janine lived happily ever after.

**THE END!**

I thought it was hilarious. A nice bit of comedy to get you all through the rest of the story which will NOT contain any comedy.

* * *

Today was the day Kori had been waiting ages for. Slipping out unnoticed in the early morning, she had called a taxi to take her back to the other side of town. As she was leaving, she thought she saw Richard on the roof, but he was alone. That couldn't be possible, since Richard and Babs never went anywhere without each other. 

After her parents's deaths, Richard had had two gravestones erected in the cemetary. There was nothing under them, of course, as the bodies of her parents had burned in the plane crash, but he had told her that 'it was nice knowing they're only a block away.' She came here every month on their death anniversary. Richard had always come with her. Only a few tears were shed, it was mostly just quiet silence, but she wasn't so sure about that today. Today, she didn't have Richard with her, and today was the day she'd finally given herself permission to cry about anything.

After the two hour journey was over, Kori paid the driver and walked into the cemetary. Sitting down by the graves, she surprised even herself at how fast the tears came. In seconds, she was all out sobbing. If her parents were here, none of this would ever have happened. She wouldn't have been so miserable. Kori started out blaming them, then apologizing profusely and begging them to come back. Needless to say, it didn't really work.

She was exhausted before two hours was up, and probably dehydrated, but she didn't move. All she did was reminisce about the times when her parents were here, and how they would have helped her now, made all the pain go away. _Daddy was right. I never should have dated Richard Grayson._

"He left me, mommy." She didn't care about how much like a child she sounded. She was with her parents, and they would always love her, no matter what.

Unlike _some_ people.

"I don't even remember doing anything wrong before he started hanging out with Babs. I'm not even sure why he did, he used to hate her so much. And now he's changed. He said it was my fault, that I shouldn't have gotten angry when he cheated. I don't know what to do. I just wish I didn't still...

"Now Steven and Nicole are gone, too. Everyone's leaving me. What did I do to deserve to be alone?"

Her morning passed as a blur, but around noon, she felt someone sit by her and embrace her tightly. "R-richard?" she asked, amazement evident on her face behind the two rivers of tears.

"Shh." He stroked her hair, pushing her head on to his shoulder. "It's okay, Kori. Don't cry."

The first thing she thought to do was get angry. What did he think he was, her own personal stalker? Goodness knows she didn't need that. But she couldn't muster up any anger right now. She was too tired, too sad. She leaned up against him and cried into his shirt. After that, she didn't know how much time had gone by. It might have been seconds or hours, but her tears never ceased. Finally, Richard broke the silence. "Kori, please don't cry, I love you."

She pulled away, suddenly suspicious. No way would Richard say that, not when he had _Babs_. He looked like he was genuinely begging, though. _I must be hallucinating, _Kori realized. She pushed him away, somehow becoming mad enough at herself to yell at him. "Go! Get away from me! Leave me _alone!_"

He was very obviously not expecting that. "What? But, Kori--"

"I said go!" she screeched. "Leave _now!_" She stood up shakily, pointing out of the graveyard. "NOW!"

Richard stood up as well, grabbing her shoulders. "Kori, hold on a second! Calm down, it's--"

"Don't touch me!" She swiped his hands away like they were the plague, closing her eyes and opening them again to find that he was still there. _I've got it bad_. "I am not kidding! I _hate_ you!" That was her last resort, and it did the job quite well. Richard's eyes widened so much she could see the whites above his sunglasses, and he backpedaled out of there. Turning back to the graves, Kori kneeled down, resuming her mourning. _I'm so weak, mommy. _She stayed like that until her world suddenly went black.

* * *

Richard was in a bad mood that morning, but what else was new? Everyone hated him, excepting his girlfriend, of course. And that girlfriend was not Kori, so it bothered him the most. He was on the brink of complete depression, but he wouldn't let it get to him. Not yet, anyway. 

_Maybe Kori'll be up on the roof. _He wasn't exactly sure why he wanted to talk to her, knowing that she would even give him the time of day, but he felt the irresistable urge to see her, and make sure she was okay. _Of course she's okay, she doesn't have you bringing her down!_

She wasn't there, but he stayed there anyway, watching the sun come up. _Why_ he had this inexplicable need to see Kori today was beyond him. Was it just because of his guilt? Sorrow? Sheer frustration? He wasn't a psychologist, he wouldn't know.

He went to breakfast with Babs at about nine, having put the thought out of his mind a long time ago. He wasn't really listening to her, but at the word "parents" he perked up. "...Should meet you, they never did when we were dating, and I think they'll like you." Richard slapped his forehead, wondering how he could have forgotten.

"Uh...maybe not today, I had something planned."

"What?"

"It's kinda...personal..."

"Dick, you know you can tell me anything," Babs prodded.

"Maybe later. I'll see you." He walked out quickly before she could respond, found his motorbike, and began the two hour journey. Really, it should only have been forty-five minutes, but the traffic was horrible. It was always two hours, and everyone planned it as such.

By the time he reached the cemetary a block away from Wayne Manor, it was noon. Grayish clouds had gathered in the sky above, casting a gloomy shade over everything. Kori's bright red hair was easily spotted within the dull colors. She was shaking from crying so hard, something Richard was startled about. She'd never cried this much before.

Slowly and cautiously, he approached her, trying not to disturb her. When he sat down beside her, though, he couldn't help hugging her. She looked even worse than he did, and that was saying something.

"R-richard?"

He hadn't rehearsed for this. "Shh. It's okay, Kori. Don't cry."

She accepted him here almost at once, cuddling into his arms and crying there. She was saying something, too, but it was muffled by his shirt. He didn't really care. All that mattered to him was that he had Kori back in his arms. Maybe this was how it always would be. She'd move on and possibly move away, but he knew he could always look forward to that one time every month when she came here with him to sit by the graves of her parents. That was probably the only thing he would ever look forward to for the rest of his life. _Whoa. Slow down, Grayson. It's not over yet. You're acting like she's already gone. _He stroked her hair, kissing her softly on the head every now and then. Richard was afraid to make any sudden movements, as if she were a rabbit that would run at the first sign of danger. He couldn't think of an explanation as to why she was so unhappy. This wasn't like her at all. The only thing that came to mind was their break up, but she'd never shown any signs of dejection at that. Resentment, yes, sadness, no. _Maybe she was pretending_, he offered. The idea was quickly shot down. Kori could never pretend about something like this, she could never mask her emotions at all. _Maybe it's because Steven is gone._

That hurt. He caressed her cheek gently, wondering if that was true. It made a lot more sense than his 'she's pretending' theory. All of a sudden, he didn't want to hear her cry anymore. Of course, he hadn't wanted to hear it in the first place, but now it was unbearable. "Kori, please don't cry, I love you."

Another huge mistake.

Kori pulled away from him, glaring daggers. At once, he knew this would not end well. "Go! Get away from me! Leave me _alone_!"

"What? But, Kori--"

"I said go! Leave _now_!" She stood up, and Richard honestly thought she was going to fall. If she felt as bad as she looked like she felt, it was amazing she could stand at all. He jumped up, too, ready to catch her. "NOW!" She swayed again, and he grabbed her shoulders, desperately trying to find a spark of life in her eyes that _didn't_ suggest she was insane.

"Kori, calm down, it's--"

"Don't touch me! I am not kidding! I _hate_ you!" He stumbled backwards at the insult, though it wasn't because of what she was saying. In that moment, it was terribly obvious that she was lying. Kori was still very much in love with him, and he now saw the extent of damage his breaking up with her had done. And he didn't want to see it anymore. It was time to leave.

It was pointless, he decided while stumbling back to his motorcycle and attempting not to strangle himself for being such an idiot, to try and go back to the hotel on motorcycle, since the smell of rain was in the air. He only hoped Kori would make it back before it started. He drove over to Wayne Manor instead. "Hey Alfred."

"Master Richard I wasn't aware that _everyone_ had ruined their clothing. Are you in need of more as well?" Bruce hadn't told him. Richard reminded himself to thank Bruce later, if the guy ever talked to him again.

"No, I'm good. I was just in the neighborhood and throught I'd drop by," Richard shrugged. Alfred let him in, ushering him to the kitchen for some late lunch. Alfred was an amazing cook, and Richard had missed the meals, though they were nearly as good at the hotel. Alfred's dishes were masterpieces.

The phone rang, and Alfred picked it up. "It is for you, Master Richard." Richard frowned. Who knew he was here? Kori would, of course, but she probably thought he'd gone back. There was no one else that cared.

"Hello?"

"Dick? It's Rachel." His expression hardened, though she couldn't see it.

"Oh."

"And Roy," Roy added.

"And Jenny."

"And Alan."

"And Vic."

"And Wally."

"And Angelina."

"And Karen."

"And Gar." They had him on speaker. He said nothing, and Rachel sighed.

"Listen, Dick, we're really sorry--"

"Really, _really_ sorry," Wally added for emphasis.

"Thanks. Really, _really_ sorry about the way we've been acting."

"Says the girl who smashed...whatever that was...in my face," Richard sneered.

"Dick, please..."

"Dick, man, Kori was our friend, too. And I guess, what with you hurting her so bad and all, we forgot that we were on your side, too," Vic cut in. "We're friends 'til the end, man, however hard it is to stay with both of you. If you're okay with Babs, then we are, too. We just thought she'd go and get you mad again. But if you're happy, we're happy, and Kori'll move on and forget about this thing eventually, I guess." Richard heard a slap, and a 'What was that for?' in the background, but he wasn't paying attention. Vic was right. Kori probably _would_ move on. Then what would he do? She wasn't going to mope over him forever.

"Thanks a bunch, Vic," he said dryly into the phone.

"Dick, listen. You know how thickheaded Vic can be, don't listen to him. We just wanted to let you know that we're sorry, and we'll make it up to you, on one condition," Angelina interjected.

"What's that?"

"No more kissing Babs at the table."

Everyone laughed, except Richard. He wasn't about ready to forgive them yet. "Whatever. At the rate you guys are going, we won't even be _at_ the table for you to see us. What makes you think I don't believe you guys've been the worst--" He paused. "I don't even want to say friends, because you don't deserve it." There was a very stunned silence.

"Dick, we're sorry--" Karen began.

"Maybe sorry doesn't cut it anymore! Maybe I don't care how sorry you are! As if I need everyone in the entire world hating me, except Babs! She was better than all of you put together! I _meant_ it when I said I hated you!"

There was another, much longer pause, and Richard was tempted to hang up the phone. He did hate his 'friends,' sure, but he wanted to give them another chance. They were like family to him, and he'd hate losing them more than anything, right now. They just wouldn't take the hint and...

"We know whatever we've been doing was wrong, Dick. We've figured it out, and we're sorry for it," came Alan's patient voice. "We know how you feel, but you can't just throw this away." He knew what Alan was trying to imply. Just like Richard had thrown everything else away. "We messed up bad, Dick, but that doesn't mean you didn't. You needed to know, and we needed to show you."

_It's not their fault_, Richard thought resignedly. _They think I don't care about Kori. They think I haven't been punished enough._

"Dick? It's Gar," said a much quieter voice than Gar's usual one. "I'm sorry for beating you up, and for getting mad. It's just...Kori helped me out in a tough spot more than once, and I didn't want to see her get hurt. I guess, sometimes, there's nothing you can do about it, but...this doesn't mean we're going to leave one or the other of you out. I know you guys can barely survive in the same room, but try, please? For us." He paused, and continued in a much lighter tone. "Or I might have to knock you out again."

Richard smirked, though they couldn't see him. "I'd like to see you try." They took that as a yes. Conversation continued, but Richard hung up after a while, in a slightly better mood. He went upstairs to his room, but noticed Kori's right across the hallway, and decided to go and take a look.

What Bruce said was true. Everything was gone. He even checked all the drawers, but nothing was there. All that remained that showed any sign of someone living there were five curlie cue photo frames on top of the armoire, all with pictures of himself and Kori. _She didn't take them with. _His heart sunk rapidly, the happiness of the conversation with his friends losing its ground. Without thinking, he reached up and smacked one right off the top of the armoire.

The glass tinkled softly as it broke against the floor, and his eyes widened in realization of what he'd just done. He picked up the picture, a very clear one of him about to kiss Kori, and both of them had mischievous smiles on their faces, with eyes for no one but each other. His heart lurched back up. Back then, he'd never known he'd be the one to end all the wonderful times they'd shared. But Kori would never have hurt him. Ever. She always knew the right thing to do. He ignored the broken glass, trudging back to his room and sticking the picture under his pillow for no apparent reason. Maybe because it was a reminder of what could have been, if not for his stupidity. That mistake could never happen again.

_"What could have been"? Maybe I AM depressed..._

"Master Richard, it is nearly eight o'clock. Would you like to eat dinner?" asked Alfred. Richard hadn't realized how long he'd been sitting there.

"Yeah, sure, Alfred." The teen sighed heavily as Alfred peeked into Kori's room.

"I thought I heard something break. One of the photographs must have fallen." Richard decided not to go into detail.

After dinner, he started to get worried. It was pretty dark outside, and a steady drizzle was falling. It would probably turn into something more later on. Was Kori home? Was she okay? It wouldn't hurt to check, would it?

He called up his friends first, but none of them had seen Kori since yesterday. _Of course, she'd probably stay at Galfore's for the night, it's closer. _Richard called there next. "Hello?" Galfore answered tiredly.

"Hey Galfore, it's Dick. Is Kori there?"

"No," Galfore answered suspiciously. "Is it of any importance to you?"

"Nevermind, see you later." Richard hung up. He did not cherish talking to the huge, muscular guy who's "daughter" he'd just broken up with.

Getting in a car, he quickly made his way to the graveyard. He couldn't see anything through the mist, but when he got to the right spot, he found Kori curled up against the cold and fast asleep between her parents's graves. The sight chilled him. She looked dead herself. He picked her up as gently as he could, trying not to wake her. "Daddy?" she whispered sleepily. Richard hugged her close, blinking back tears. He didn't think he'd ever seen anything so sad.

Carefully, he placed her in the passenger seat and sat in the driver's, resting her head on his shoulder. He barely remembered the directions to her old house, after six months of almost never going there, but found the right way after a few wrong turns. Carrying Kori bridal-style out of the car, he walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell as best as he could.

"Korina!" Galfore cried in alarm as he opened it. "What happened to her?"

"Nothing, she's fine. She just fell asleep," Richard explained. For the first time, Galfore seemed to notice who he was talking to, and his rather obvious glare began boring into Richard.

"Very well," he said stiffly. "Bring her in."

Richard walked upstairs to Kori's new room, one shared with Galfore's eldest child, and set her down on the second bed. Galfore's kid didn't move, she was fast asleep. For a minute, he sat on the edge of her bed, just watching her sleep, and wondering if she'd get a cold from the wet clothing she was wearing. What he didn't know was that Galfore was watching _him_. "Good night, Kori," he whispered, kissing her on the forehead. He got up and left the room, nearly running into the big man. "Oh. Sorry. I didn't see you." Richard took a minute to realize how stupid that sounded. "Kori's clothes are all wet."

"My wife will change them when she comes home. Thank you for bringing her. She might have been there all night..." Richard smiled weakly, waving goodbye, and took one last look into Kori's room before sighing and leaving the house. Bruce was waiting for him back at the manor.

"Where were you?"

"Kori's house." A ghost of a smile flickered across Bruce's face.

"Got back together, did you?"

Richard looked away. "No. I'm going to sleep." He brushed past Bruce, but his guardian held him back.

"Dick..."

"Good night." And that was that.

* * *

Have you ever smelled rain? Like, you know it's coming because of the smell? I do. Maybe I just have a weird nose... 

Sorry I made it sound like I killed her off in Kori's POV. She just went to sleep, nothing serious.


	16. Chapter 16: The Disappearance

Ooh...so close to being done!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything mentioned below.

* * *

When Kori woke up, she had to blink a couple of times to make sure she was actually awake. Where was she? The room looked familiar, but then...it didn't. Yellow curtains were draped haphazardly across the windows; the floor was barely visible through the mounds of colorful rugs, stuffed animals, and dolls; and she was on a twin size bed covered in an equally colorful bedspread. Then, she looked across the room to the small girl sleeping in the second twin bed, and understood. 

"ACHOO!" The sneeze came without warning, and she toppled off her tiny bed. Galfore's daughter stirred, but didn't wake. Kori sniffled, trudging downstairs to find Galfore up and cooking his breakfast, about to leave for work. "Good morning."

"Korina? Did you sleep well? How are you feeling?" Galfore asked. Kori shrugged. She didn't remember anything from last night after Richard had left, and had no idea how she'd gotten to Galfore's house. Maybe she had sleepwalked, and Galfore thought she was crazy.

"I thing I ghave a gold," she muttered, exaggerating her actual speech. Galfore smiled sympathetically.

"Sit, my bumgorf. Bed rest and fluids, the universal cure, yes? You were out in the rain for a long time."

Galfore gave her warm milk, and Kori sipped it thoughtfully. "Galfore, what happened? I don't remember getting here."

He took a while to answer, pouring a thick pudding-like substance from one bowl to another. "You would not. You had fallen asleep. Richard Grayson brought you." Kori spit her milk back into her cup.

"_Him?_ Why did he bother? Why can't he--" Galfore silenced her with one look.

"I do not think you have any right to stay angry at him, Korina. If not for him, you could have been much more ill. It rained all night, and you would have been out in it with no protection whatsoever. At least give him that much credit."

"No. He doesn't care, Galfore." Her caretaker spoke no more of the matter.

Kori left before anyone else was up, thanking Galfore for his kindness, though her k'norfka seemed rather disappointed in her. It wasn't her fault, but she didn't try to make him understand. You had to be a girl to fully comprehend the emotional damage Richard had caused. Muscular, scare-anyone-at-first-glance kinda guy, not so much.

"Kori! You had us so worried! Are you okay?" Jenny rushed up to her, but no one else was there.

"Fine, Jenny, thanks. But where's everyone else?"

"Out with Dick. He convinced them all to go to an arcade, but I wanted to wait for you." Kori's temper flared. So now everyone had decided it was okay to ditch the both of them and go off with that two-timing backstabber? She calmed herself at once, again feeling guilty. She hadn't wanted them to hate Dick, and now they didn't. Now it was okay for _her_ to do so. No problem.

"Sorry for making you wait, Jenny. Maybe you'd want to--" A very familiar, very high-pitched voice interrupted her own.

"Ew. What are _you_ doing here? This is a five star hotel, not for middle-class people like you."

Kori whirled around in surprise. "Kitten? Where have _you_ been?"

The blonde girl rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Shopping, duh. There's a huge mall and I just finished there today. So I'm coming back here to where my _rich_ daddy got me a room. Oh yeah, you must've made your rich _boyfriend_ pay for you to--"

"We. Broke. Up," Kori said through gritted teeth. She was getting really tired of having to say this, and couldn't believe Kitten was still sour over the whole thing. Jenny stepped up, her anger sparking as well.

"We liked it better when you weren't here, Kitten." Kitten huffed, but didn't hide the smug look in her eyes.

"You're just jealous because my Richie-poo realized he was too good for you and wanted to date--"

"Babs." Kitten frowned in confusion, and Jenny smirked, all too happy to explain. "He's now dating Babs."

It took a while for the message to sink in, but once it did, Kitten actually_ screamed_. "How could she? She knew I liked him! What kind of a"--Kori very nearly covered her eyes and cringed at the names Kitten was calling Babs--"friend is that?"

"Just as bad a friend as everyone else," Kori muttered, immediately relieved she hadn't said it too loud. All this negativity was really making her...well, negative. It wasn't like her at all. She excused herself quickly, urging Jenny to go and join everyone else at the arcade.

Kori was at a loss. She was confused and upset, and on top of that, she had a quickly developing cold. Resting in bed until everyone else decided to show up, she must have downed ten glasses of juice. Now she really had to _go._

Her head pounded when she got out of bed, and after a quick stop to the bathroom she shakkily made her way downstairs to see if the hotel carried any painkillers. Before she had a chance to ask, though, she found all of her 'friends' crowded in the lobby, talking and laughing with Richard and Babs. On sight of her, everyone became quiet. Kori plastered on a fake smile and walked up to them.

"Hello."

"Oh, hey Kor. You okay? You look kinda pale," Vic commented. Kori gritted her teeth, but kept the smile on her face.

"Great. I just have a cold, I was out last night in the rain." She saw Richard shift uncomfortably, but everyone else went back to talking with Babs, who was telling a story that was, apparently, highly entertaining. Completely forgotten, Kori left the hotel. No one would miss her.

She ended up at the park, sorely wishing Steven was still around to walk with her. This was where she'd last seen him, where he'd finally gotten Xavier off her case. She sat down under a tree, basking in the warm summer sun that filtered down through the leaves. _I'm worrying for no reason_, she thought drowsily. It was too pretty a place to have any problems at all.

Her head was _really_ hurting.

Why she had to keep falling asleep outside, she had no idea. But she wasn't feeling well at all, definitely not well enough to get up. So she sat there until she drifted off, and when she awoke, it was nighttime and there wasn't a soul in sight. Kori stood up on shaky legs, blinking away her sleepiness and looking around for the right direction back to the hotel. It was nearly too dark to do so, but Kori managed to navigate her way around. The second she stumbled into the hotel, though, someone had slammed her against a wall.

"Where _were_ you?" her captor growled, and that was all she heard before she passed out.

* * *

Richard hadn't slept, but what else was new? He left Wayne Manor at four o'clock in the morning in a car, miserably watching his motorcycle gathering dust. He didn't want to ride it again. Ever. 

He had been planning on checking on Kori, but decided against it. Galfore had seemed friendly enough the night before, but Kori ould not be, especially not this early. The drive back to the hotel was quick, since no one was out on the roads. Richard wasn't noticed as he slipped into his, Vic's, and Gar's room and crashed there.

"Dick? Hey, Dick! Wanna tell us why you were at your place yesterday?" asked Gar cheerily, waking him up.

"Huh?" he muttered groggily.

"Gar, leave the poor guy alone. He must've been driving all night to get back here," said Vic. Richard rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, turning over and promptly falling off the couch he'd been sleeping on.

"Ouch." Gar and Vic guffawed in the background, and Richard scowled good-naturedly. It was nice having them back to normal.

"So _why_?" Gar asked impatiently.

Richard raked his fingers through his hair, making sure not one lock was out of place. "Where's Kori?" He just _had_ to make this awkward.

"Uh..." Vic scratched the back of his head. "...I don't know, she left yesterday too..." Gar stared down at his shoes, and then up at the ceiling, and around the room, basically anywhere but at Richard. Suddenly losing all tiredness, Richard stood up and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, so...you guys wanna go to arcade? Guy's day out, how about it?" The two others nodded enthusiastically, glad for a subject change.

"Roy and Wally've been talking about something like that for a while now," Gar commented, still refusing to look at him. This could get difficult.

They trooped along to the other boys's room, and found not only Roy, Alan, and Wally, but most of the girls, too. Babs pulled him aside, smiling. "Well, the finally stopped hating us, Dick." He didn't voice it to her, but right now he wished they still did, for some reason. Maybe because they used to believe he and Kori still had a chance.

"Yeah, great."

Evetually, they all got out downtown, and ended up in an overly crowded room with flashing lights and pinball machines everywhere. Richard grabbed Babs and pulled her over to the DDR, coaxing her to get on. "But Dick, I've never played one of these before, how am I supposed to...?" Richard stared at her.

"You live in the year 2007 and you've _never_ played DDR?" he questioned, aghast. Babs frowned.

"I have better things to do than stamp around on arrows all day." He rolled his eyes, gesturing to Vic to come up instead. They each put in a dollar, and picked a song. A heated competition began to the beat of **TSUGARU**, a song that had no words, but was really fast. First up, then down, then both the sides at once...the beginning started easy, but became difficult quickly. Just as Richard was starting to enjoy himself, Gar, who'd been searching around for some money to play a game on the other end of the room, dropped a quarter on to the mat.

"Dick, stop moving! Lemme get my quarter back!" Gar urged, trying to slip his hands between Richard's feet.

"Stop it, Gar, you're going to get your fingers crushed!" Richard hissed back. "Forget the quarter, this will be over in a second!"

"But I really want to play that game! Just stop moving!"

Gar lunged for the quarter, and Richard missed a beat to avoid tripping over his friend. The reddish-purple 'BOO' flashed on the screen as Richard groaned. Both him and Vic hit the last arrow at the same time, but Vic had had a perfect 207 combo. His score far surpassed Richard's. "That's not fair! Gar was in the way!" Richard declared angrily.

"Sorry, man, I'm out of money, so I guess I win," replied his adversary, grinning. Richard rounded on Gar, practically breathing fire. He hated losing.

Gar chuckled nervously. "Hey, look on the bright side. You didn't slip on my quarter!" To prevent Richard from killing Gar, they left the arcade abruptly, most of them trying to stifle their laughter.

What _really_ set them off, though, was Richard slipping on a quarter as soon as the entered the hotel. He landed with a great _thud_ on his backside, shooting dirty looks at anyone who laughed. Jenny helped him up, shaking from containing a chuckle. "Thanks," he muttered gruffly. "Where were you?" It served as a nice change of topic.

"I was here waiting for Kori. She just went up to her room." Jenny turned away from him and joined the group of friends who were wondering what to do next. Apparently, they had just realized that their month of vacation time was half-over already.

"It was better than my last vacation. I got stuck in _quicksand_," Babs said. Everyone crowded in, waiting to hear the full story. Richard saw Jenny pointedly looking away, and figured that waiting for Kori wasn't the only reason the pink-haired girl hadn't come with them. "So, my family and I went to Africa, and I guess this would explain my lack of DDR expertise, Dick--"

"Yeah, but what explains _Dick_'s?" Roy asked, smirking.

"It was Gar's stupid quarter!"

Babs's story took a half-hour to explain, what with all the interrptions in between. She was getting very exasperated, and Richard shrugged, explaining that this was how all stories went when Gar was around. He'd gotten 'Antarctica' and 'Africa' mixed up, Richard had no idea how, and firmly believed that zebras could not live in a place so cold. It took Babs quite a long while to convince him otherwise.

Just when she was getting to the rescue, though, she went quiet. Kori had walked into the lobby, looking rather worse for the wear. Her nose was a bright, bright red and she looked like she was about to throw up. "Hello," she greeted slowly.

"Oh hey, Kor. You okay? You look kind pale." 'Kinda pale' was an understatement.

"Great. I just have a cold, I was out last night in the rain." If he hadn't found her, would she have been worse than this? It wasn't his place to ask her anything, but he wished _someone_ would. Unfortunately, they all turned back to Babs and eagerly waited for her to finish, so he did, too.

"...And the ranger told me to stop fighting, but how could I, you know? He said quicksand is just like water, you have to float, or something like that. I just kinda relaxed on of my arms, and it came up, really slow. He tossed a rope out to me, and I grabbed it. Man, getting out of there was even scarier than being _in _it. If that rope sliped, I was a goner. And my hand was hurting so bad, but I couldn't do anything about it. I was _covered_ in sand, it was _so_ gross. I'm never going there again," Babs recalled with a shudder. It was the longest paragraph she'd managed to get out without being cut off.

Vic's stomach growled, breaking the silence. He grinned sheepishly. "We forgot lunch."

"Dick," Babs whispered as they ate their meal, "we need to talk."

"About what?" Richard muttered absently, wondering where Kori had gone off to.

"Well, you, for one thing. But that girl, Janice or whatever her name is, what's her problem?" Richard cocked an eyebrow.

"Jenny? She doesn't have a problem."

"She doesn't like me."

"Maybe she would if you got her name right."

Babs pouted. "How am I supposed to get it right if she won't tell it to me in the first place?" Richard didn't answer.

"Listen...is it because I'm dating you?"

"Probably." Babs sighed. She probably thought he was being a jerk, but he didn't feel like sugar-coating anything right now. "Can you blame her? I broke up with her best friend supposedly because I liked you better." Babs snapped to attention.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Shoot.

"That came out wrong, Babs. I meant--"

"You guys? We haven't seen Kori anywhere. Do you think..." Wally interrupted. He had the best timing. Richard pushed his plate away and got up.

"Are you guys sure she's not just downtown?"

"She would've called,wouldn't she?" Wally countered.

"Dick..."

"Not now, Babs," Richard said firmly. Kori was the only thing on his mind.

Hours later, he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Why hadn't she called? Didn't she know she would worry them? Hadn't they had enough excitement for one vacation, without her disappearing all over the place? What was she thinking?

By nine at night, he had not only his nose glued to the door, but most of the clerks watching him exasperatedly, their fingers hovering near the 'Security' button. That was when he saw the staggering redhead in the distance, and his heart lurched up. "I see her! She's coming!" He looked behind him, only to realize that his friends had long since left to search other areas of the hotel. Kori opened the door, looking even wore than she'd been in the morning.

He grabbed her arms, steadying her and forcing her to look at him. "Where were you?" he growled, his voice not sounding un-relieved enough. Kori never focused on him. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she passed out in his arms. "Kori? Kori!" he cried, shaking her. She wouldn't wake up.

"Dick, what...oh no!" It was Angelina and Alan. They came over to help, but Richard pulled Kori closer to him.

"I got her. Just open that door over there." They helped out as much as they could to get Kori up to their floor, and deposited her on the spare bed in Jenny and Angelina's room. She never stirred. Richard felt her forehead and pulled his hand back worriedly. "She's burning up."

Angelina put a cool, wet rag on Kori's forehead, while Alan went down to the first floor to find a thermometer and the rest of the gang. When he returned, they were shocked to find Kori's temperature at 103.5 degrees. "How did this happen?" Angelina murmured.

"Should we call an ambulance? Get her to a hospital?" Richard asked his friends.

"Not unless it gets worse. She should be fine in here for now. If she wakes up, get her some water to drink. I can stay here and make sure she doesn't--" Rachel began.

"No, you go to sleep. This is my room, I'm staying up with Kori. It makes no sense to bring anyone else," Angelina argued.

"We could all stay," Vic suggested. "I'm pretty sure we all want to."

"No," Jenny said. "Me and Angelina. Everyone else, out!" No one made another sound, her tone was final. Richard squeezed Kori's hand quickly, hoping she'd be well by the time he came and checked on her in the morning.

* * *

Merry ChrismaHannuKwanzaaKah! 

I bet you guys can ALL guess what I'm going to do next chapter...(evil laugh)

By the way, I'm just throwing this out here, 103.5 degrees body temperature is not good, for all the Celsius users out there...


	17. Chapter 17: The Fever

OOOOOH almost done!!!!!!!!

Thank you to **BerryDrops, Crimson Black, cartoonfire, Hidden x Eclipse, caresse345, RavenSis, milkshakelvr, BeautiiQueen, XxNightfirexX, Black Raven 13, TerraBB4Eva, SuPeR HyPeR chick 101, RoseXxxXThorn, Royalfire14, cartoonstar, lilacprincessmay, lil love fan, final frost bite fantasy,** and **Satine's Voice** for reviewing the last chapter!

Sorry, I wanted to get this up yesterday, but I didn't have enough time to write it...

Wow, I'm sick right now, too, how weird is that?

Happy belated holidays to everyone! And Happy New Year, too!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything below.

* * *

Kori awoke from a feverish dream to see Jenny staring down at her nervously. "Hi, Kori. What's up?" 

"Ugh...hi," Kori groaned, trying to sit up. "This isn't my room. What time is it?"

"No, this is me and Angie's. It's six o'clock...in the evening. Your fever just broke. You had a really bad one and after you passed out yesterday..." Jenny trailed off, looking troubled about something. Kori had a feeling there was more to the story.

"And? Oh no, Jenny, you haven't been watching me since last night, have you? I'm so sorry I--"

"No, Kori, it's fine...I mean, not that anyone else was watching, just me, you know, not that anyone else would care, and _definitely_ not D--" Jenny cut herself off right on time, but Kori's eyes were blazing with anger. Of course no one else would care. They'd all replaced her with Babs. Thank goodness for Jenny, or she might have been kicked out of their room, out of the hotel. Come to think of it, maybe she _had_ been kicked out of the room, that's why she was here. And they'd probably moved Babs's things into Karen and Rachel's room...Kori bit her lip and calmed herself. There would be plenty of time to get mad at everyone later.

"Thanks, Jen. Really. It was nice of you to do something like that for me." She smiled, and Jenny calmed, too.

"No problem, Kori. Anytime. Do you need anything?"

Kori shook her head, though it still throbbed slightly. "You get some rest, I'll be fine. Go ahead." Jenny nodded gratefully, stepping out of the room, and leaving Kori to her thoughts.

Maybe it was just this whole break up with Richard. Maybe it was an after-effect of the fever. But Kori was having a very hard time thinking anything civil of her 'friends' who obviously hadn't cared enough to check in during her bout with her fever. They didn't even have time for her anymore, the last three days were spent idolizing Babs. She understood completely. Just because she was Richard's girlfriend, they put up with her. When he moved on from Babs, they would probably ignore Babs too. Trusting them was going to be--

The door burst open. "Kori? Are you okay? I just met up with Jenny and she said you were really sick," Terra said, sitting on her bed. Kori shrugged, smiling a bit.

"I'm fine now, apparently my fever broke a little while ago, and I just woke up. I'll be okay, thanks. How about you?" Terra waved it away.

"Oh, I'm fine. Look at you, you're thinner than a twig! When was the last time you ate?" When _was_ the last time she ate? Kori struggled to remember.

"Breakfast...yesterday," she mumbled.

"My gosh, no wonder you're sick! We can order room service, how about that? What room is this, anyway, I didn't even look when I came in..." Kori kept her smile on her face, not wanting to worry Terra. But what was there to worry about? She had Jenny and Terra with her. They were all she would ever need.

* * *

As soon as the clock struck five in the morning, Richard was over at Jenny and Angelina's door, pounding away until someone opened. Jenny looked worried when she saw him. "It's gotten worse. Not by much, but it's not getting better." Richard gulped.

"You go to sleep. Let me see her." He walked into the room, pulling up a chair and feeling Kori's forehead. She tossed and turned fitfully, moaning slightly. "Shh..." He stroked her hair, accepting the cold, wet rag that Jenny gave him.

"I think it'll be best to just call an ambulance, Dick. This is insane," the pink-haired girl breathed. Richard nodded. The fact had occured to him before, but it now hit him at full force: Kori could very possibly die.

"If...if she doesn't get any better by tonight, we will," he whispered. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turn his head to see Karen and Rachel.

"We couldn't sleep either," Karen explained shakily. She handed Jenny the keys to her room. "Go. Get some sleep. There won't be anyone to bother you in my room."

"But what about--"

"I'll tell you what's going on as soon as you wake up, I promise." Jenny nodded reluctantly, glancing down at Kori one more time and leaving the room. Karen and Rachel sat down on the bed next to Kori's, wearing identical expressions of worry.

The door opened again, and Vic and Gar shuffled in. "How is she?" Gar murmured quietly. Richard's jaw tightened and he shook his head. Gar took his place by his girlfriend, wrapping an arm around her waist, but Vic stayed by the doorway uncomfortably. Karen didn't even look his way.

"Listen, Bee--" he started desperately, but Karen cut him off.

"Just forget it, Vic. Kori's sick, that all doesn't matter, okay? I don't care what you do, just don't mention it right now." Ignoring her, Vic sat on the bed by her, creating a rather large depression in the mattress. Karen was right, at least to Richard. Nothing mattered right now, except the need for Kori to get well.

As noon approached, Kori's fever climbed steadily to 104. She was shivering and sweating, now, her whimpers becoming more urgent. Richard had the phone in his hand, ready to dial 911, but Babs walked in the room, smiling. "Hey. How's she doing?" Richard didn't answer. He_ couldn't _answer. But one look at the grim faces and Babs figured it out. "Not so good, huh? She's a toughie, right, Dick? That's what you said. She'll be fine."

Richard slammed the phone down to keep from crushing it. "No she's not, Babs! Just shut up! You dont know _anything_!" he exploded. Babs recoiled, hurt, but Rachel restrained Richard.

"He's just worried, Babs, we all are. This is getting out of hand, Babs, we might need to get her to the emergency room." Babs sighed.

"Sorry. Have you tried--"

"Everything," Richard muttered hopelessly. "We've tried everything." He sank down in a chair and buried his head in his hands. _This is all my fault. If I hadn't broken up with her, she would never have gone to that graveyard alone. She would never have caught that cold, and it would never have come to this. _"Let me call."

As if by a miracle, though, Kori's eyes opened. She still looked out of it, but Richard had dropped the phone and grabbed her hands. "Kori? Kori, are you okay? Stay with us, Kori, tell me how you feel." She didn't answer, not with them to begin with. Her skin turned slightly green, and Karen and Rachel puhed Richard out of the way.

"Move!" They picked her up and carried her to the bathroom. The boys could all hear sounds of retching coming from behind the door, and winced. Richard made a move to get up and go to her, but Vic held him back.

"Man, you don't need to see that. Stay, they'll be back." They _did_ come back, Kori asleep in Karen and Rachel's arms.

"Is she okay? What happened?"

"She threw up, that's what happened. But I didn't think she had an upset stomach. We'll just have to wait and see, Dick." Kori looked even paler than before.

Karen and Rachel took her to the bathroom a grand total of three times, and each time she seemed worse when she got back. When they took her temperature again, though, it had gone down to a 102, and Richard nearly danced the can-can. "She's getting better," he announced triumphantly.

Jenny peeked her head in the doorway. "How is she?"

Richard grinned back at her. "Great. How'd you sleep?"

"Alright. That's good news." Babs wrapped her arms aroud Richard's neck.

"Well, then, that was pretty scary. Didn't I tell you she'd be okay?" Before Richard could answer, Kori stirred. Karen and Rachel prepared to take her into the bathroom again, but her eyes were much more focused now. Richard stood up, grabbing Jenny and putting her in his place.

"It'll make things less complicated," he explained sadly. Karen, Rachel, Vic, Gar, and Babs followed him out.

"Dick..." Karen started.

"No, Kori, it's fine...I mean, not that anyone else was watching, just me, you know, not that anyone else would care, and _definitely _not D--" they heard Jenny say from behind the door.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Is _everyone_ I know a bad liar?"

Karen glared at her, then turned back to Richard. "Look. This is getting out of hand. I don't know why even Kori's almost-death won't convince you you're wrong, and to be honest, I wouldn't care if it wasn't poor Kori involved in this. But you need to get your act together, Dick. You can't keep going around pretending you care about someone you're not dating. Either make up your mind, or stop hurting every unfortunate girl who happens to cross your path." She glared at Vic. "That goes for you, too. No offense, Babs."

"None taken," the redhead replied dully. Karen walked back to her room, and Rachel and Gar just shrugged and followed her. Vic grinned sheepishly.

"I'm just gonna go." Richard and Babs were now alone.

"I didn't want it to seem lik I didn't care about whether she lived or died. You just seemed so worried, I wanted to get you away for a minute," Babs said quietly. Richard nodded listlessly.

"Thanks. Something a real..." He paused, knowing he was about to bring a whole new set of changes, but not caring. "_friend_ would do."

Babs nodded resignedly. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry, Babs. I shouldn't've gotten you mixed up in this. I just thought...I don't even know."' She touched his cheek, shaking her head.

"Don't apologize. _I_ got myself mixed up in this. I _caused_ it, Dick, and how you can find it in yourself to forgive me is amazing. I should never have gotten in between you and Kori. It just seemed like you really missed me, though...I thought I had a chance."

"It's okay. I guess it made me realize I really do love her..." He glanced into Kori's room and back at Babs. "But we're still--I mean, you don't hate me, do you?"

"No, Dick, of course not! If anything, it's you who should be hating me. I'm sorry. For everything. I'd never been a good girlfriend to you, had I?"

"It's fine. Come here." He hugged her tightly, swallowing his doubt and fear, but it didn't work. "What if she doesn't pull through?" he whispered hoarsely.

"She will. I know she will. She has you there with her." Babs smirked. "Oh wow. I've been hanging out with you too much, I'm starting to sound just as corny."

Richard gave a weak smile. "And that's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Yeah." A gigantic weight lifted itself off Richard's chest. _Please, Kori. You have to make it through. Now we can be together again, and I swear I'll never make that mistake again...or any mistake, for that matter. I promise._

_

* * *

_Is everyone happy now? Happy enough to call off the mob that's been attacking my house since chapter ten...? 


	18. Chapter 18: The Letter

Happy New Year everyone! I was going to get this out at midnight on the dot, but I'm going to a party...

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans or anything else mentioned below...

* * *

Jenny had taken Kori to a walk-in doctor's appointment first thing the next morning, but the guy couldn't figure out how to use his stethoscope, let alone diagnose any type of condition Kori had. They couldn't find another office that would take walk-ins, and Kori had made a remarkable recovery, so Jenny took her back to the hotel. They kept a cell phone within arm's reach, in case something happened again, but Kori assured her that had been the last time she decided to sleep in the rain wearing summer clothes in a graveyard and forget to eat for two days and bottle up that much stress. Jenny really couldn't ask anything more of her. 

Jenny, Terra, and Kori had a small reunion in Terra, Donna, and Kitten's room. "Where IS Donna, anyway? Do you think she's been with Kitten at the mall?" Terra asked doubtfully. "I mean, Donna likes to shop, but with Kitten, everything's a hassle."

"You can say that again," muttered Jenny under her breath.

"Donna's with _them_," Kori said, jerking her head towards the other end of the hallway, where all of "their" rooms were. "I thought Kitten finished up at the mall?"

"She went back," Terra answered. "Says there's nothing to do here, with her _Richie-poo_ taken."

Kori tried to smirk and failed miserably, but no one noticed. "So you guys have an extra bed?" she questioned slowly.

"Yeah. Why?"

Th redhead sighed heavily. "I think I've been kicked out of my room. Would you mind if I stayed here, just for tonight? I'm leaving in the morning, but I don't want to call a cab today, you know, just to have one day to recuperate."

"Sure, I owe you one for putting up with me last--" Terra began.

"Why would Rachel and Karen do something like that?" Jenny asked angrily. Kori blinked.

"I don't know--"

"Who told you that?"

"You did. You said they didn't care--"

"Oh." Jenny's pale skin turn light pink for a second. "Right..."

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Kori prodded.

Jenny fumbled for an answer. "Yeah. See, it wasn't--"

"Kori?" The door opened to reveal the very last person Kori ever wanted to see again. Babs took a deep breath. "Listen, I know I've been...I mean...I shouldn't...okay, I'm not good at apologizing, but what I meant to say is--"

"Oh, please, don't break your record on _my _account," Kori said through gritted teeth. "It's not necessary at all. In fact, it won't make a difference."

Terra folded her arms in front of her chest. "Way to ditch us after you ruined Kori's relationship. I mean, if you get called a double-crosser by _Kitten_...I don't think it goes worse than that. Anyways, way to go, Babs. Heard you and Grayson had a nice--"

"We broke up! We broke up so that--"

"Oh, boo hoo," Jenny countered. "And you didn't even cheat on him this time."

Babs's eyes flashed. "This isn't fair at all. I've tried being nice. The least you could do is _listen_."

Kori rolled her eyes. "Normally, I would have. I would've been nice, too. But see, certain rules change when you go and break someone's perfectly happy relationship..." Babs looked ready to break out in tears, and Kori wondered how far she'd actually gone.

"I told him I'd help him get you back! I don't know why, because you're definitely not worth it! I don't know what he sees in you, but I didn't care, I was going to help anyway! And now _this_!" Babs's ears were practically steaming.

"Like I said," Kori replied coolly. "It's not necessary. No one said you had to break up with him. _I _most certainly didn't do so. I really, truly don't care." Babs flung something dwn on the ground and stormed away. Jenny picked it up.

"Kori, you okay? That was harsh of her, acting like it was all your fault," Terra said. Kori sat down on the bed, her head in her hands. "Kori?"

"Kori--" Jenny started.

"Wait a second, Jen, let Kori talk!" Terra shushed her.

"She's probably right," Kori said.

"Kori--"

"Hold on a second, Jenny!" scolded Terra, thoroughly enthralled by the stoy Kori was telling.

"Look at me. I still can't get over myself, and it's been six months." Both of her friends knew what she was talking about. Kori dropped her hands and sat up straight. "I'm really not worth anything, because I can't deal with whatever happens to me. Why do you think I keep getting in so much trouble? Because I can't prevent it. And I don't know what to do...but Babs is right. However much I want to think her as dumb as Kitten, she's the first one to figure this out, probably from what Richard told her. Only, she couldn't figure out that he only wanted me talking to him again because he pities me--"

"Kori, listen to me, will you?" Jenny shoved whatever Babs had dropped into Kori's hands. It was a piece of paper. "I was _trying_ to tell you that you might want to see this..."

Kori unfolded it.

_Dear Kori,_

_There's so much I need to tell you. So much I should have told you before, to avoid this whole mess. But I know the one piece of paper I have won't be enough...half sheet, since Gar doodled on the bottom._

_But right here I needed to say that I'm sorry. So, so sorry. If I knew what would happen to us, and to you, I would never have brought us here. And if you think that you could ever fogive me, even a little bit, please come to my room right now. We need to have a serious talk, just forget about this mess and to stop jumping to conclusions, and clear everything up by ourselves. _

_Babs sends her apologies, too._

_Love,_

_Richard_

"Thought you might want it," Jenny mumbled, wishing she hadn't read it.

"Wow..." Kori trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing in anger. "How pathetic! He needs to send Babs as a _messenger_ because he's too afraid to come himself?"

"I don't see that in here," Terra said, squinting.

"It's implied. 'And to you.' So he _does_ pity me..."

"Kori, you're missing the point. Look, 'stop jumping to conclusions.' No reading in between the lines there, he comes out and says it. Why don't you go over there, Kori? I bet he wants to ask you out again..." A mischievous glint came to Jenny's eye. "And everyone knows where _that'll_ lead to..."

"No," Kori answered firmly. "I'm not going, he can come here if he really thinks it that important. I'm not going back to this, Jenny! Next thing you know, some other pretty girl walks by and he forgets he has a girlfriend...again." Kori's eyes burned with tears she refused to shed. "This isn't going to happen again. Not with him. As soon as senior year is over...I can't wait to start over. I am going to apply for a college _far_ away from here..."

"Kori." Terra placed a hand on her shoulder. "Give him a chance. You were always saying how much you owed him, how much he meant to you--"

"Exactly!" One tear dodged her eyelid and came rollng down her cheek. "I don't want to feel that way about anyone, I just want to get away from him...and I don't want to be hurt by him again..."

"Listen, Kor. This is your chance to prove to people like Babs that you're _not_ who she thinks you are. You _need_ to go in there, I don't care what you say, but at least make an appearance. And try not to have a total breakdown, that would be nice, too." Kori attempted to smile, but that worked out about as well as her earlier smirk. Jenny was right. And there was no way around the fact that she would have to do this at one point or other, however much convinced she was that she could not.

Waving goodbye to Jenny and Terra, Kori walked down the hall, took a deep breath, and knocked on Richard's door.

* * *

He hadn't felt this good in ages, so it seemed. Kori was okay, he was no longer with Babs (who didn't hate him, an extra plus) and his friends were his friends again. Richard was on top of the world, and it could only get better. Finally, after a whole summer of mishaps, everything was starting to go right. And today, he was going to get Kori back, and then everything would _be_ right. He smiled all through breakfast, and his good mood was only slightly spoiled by the fact that Kori wasn't there. He'd ask her later.

Everyone minus Jenny and Kori went back to his hotel room, laughing and talking the whole way, and getting on the nerves of many of the guests. Suddenly, the said pink-haired girl appeared in front of them, grinning. "Just wanted to let you guys know that Kori's semi-okay. We're not entirely sure, the doctor was a little off."

"Thanks, Jenny," Wally said warmly. "You want to hang out with us?"

"Later. Kori's still a little bit angry over something, I don't know what." She kissed Wally on the cheek, turning around.

"Probably because you said no one cared about her," Rachel smirked. "I know I'd be angry."

Jenny blushed. "Well, next time, don't go to me if you feel like lying to someone! How am I supposed to tell her that everyone's been freaking out about her without telling her that 'everyone' included Dick?" She walked away, and everyone started to chatter again.

"Oh no," said Babs. "We forgot to tell her that Dick and I broke up! Wasn't she supposed to tell Kori?"

"Wait a second!" yelled Gar. They all stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Are we talking too fast for you?"

"Ha-ha, Gar's the one usually talking fast, not us. Is what we were saying too complicated?"

"Do you know what 'complicated' means?"

Gar frowned at them all. "Yeah, I do. And I only said to hold on because there's big news. Babs and Dick broke up! Babs just told me!" Babs rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe you didn't know. It happened _yesterday._" Roy, Wally, and Alan continued laughing at Gar, who shrugged and went and talked to Vic.

"Is it for real?" Karen asked Richard and Babs, studying them. "You're going to go back to Kori now, right? And this won't ever happen again? Goodness knows you've put that girl through enough already." The remark stung, but Richard held his smile.

"I promise. Nothing else is getting in our way anymore."

Karen nodded in satisfaction. "At least _someone_ cares properly for his girlfriend..." The atmosphere became uncomfortable.

"Hey, you guys, Roy, Wally and I and the girls are gonna head out. Anyone wanna come?" asked Alan, desperate to leave. Rachel and Gar left with them, but Bas and Richard went the other way.

Still, they could hear yells of "ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT ME?"

"DO YOU SEE ANYONE ELSE WHO STILL CAN'T GET A GRIP?"

"YEAH, SHE'S STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!"

"FINE! I SHOULD'VE DONE THIS A LONG TIME AGO. WE ARE _DONE_!"

Babs bit her lip, and Richard turned his eyes downwards. They couldn't hear anything else, but didn't go back to check. Sounded like there had been a mutual agreement. "About Kori..." Babs started uncertainly. Richard's head shot up.

"Yeah?"

"Listen, I want to go talk to her. You know, to apologize. If you want me to tell her anything..." Richard thought for a second.

"Yeah. Hold on." He searched around his pockets for a piece of paper, and found a decent sized one in his wallet, which Gar had used up the bottom half of to draw stick figures wearing hats. "This'll work." He scribbled something on there and handed it to Babs. "Thanks."

"No problem. See you in a bit." Richard went to his room and waited.

Babs really had meant it when she said she was sorry. Richard hadn't believed it at first, but seeing the pains she went through to help him get Kori back was enough to convince him. He'd been lucky to have her as an ex-girlfriend over anyone else. Even though, of course, she said it had been her fault, he was far more worried about what Kori thought of _him._ Babs wasn't the one who broke up with her. Babs wasn't the one who cheated on her, even thought he'd cheated on her _with_ Babs. It was all him. Suddenly, getting Kori back didn't sound as easy as it had before...

There was a furious pound on the door. _Kori? Is she that excited? _He grinned to himself and opened it to find a very dishevelled Babs. "Dick, I don't know why you like her at all. I tried, and you know what she did? Kicked me out of the room! I know what I did was bad, but--"

Richard frowned. "Babs, 'bad' barely covers it. Do you remember how you were at the beginning of the summer? You got on _my_ nerves, too. Look at it from her point of view--"

"I don't want to look at it from her point of view! I try to apologize to someone I don't even like, and look at what I get in return!" It had been a very bad idea to have Kori and Babs confront each other. Richard was an idiot. Of course Kori would hate Babs...

"Go get washed up, we'll talk about this later, okay?" Babs nodded, her face blothced with anger. She stomped away, and Richard sighed. Nervous didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling right now.

Another knock sounded, and Richard was sure he knew exactl who it was. "Hey, Kori."

* * *

Happy New Year! Again! Lol... 


	19. Chapter 19: The End Again

It's the new year, and I figured the first thing I should do is finish up this story, so presenting...

The finale!

I don't even think that's spelled right...

Thank you SO MUCH to all the great reviewers: **Crimson Black, RavenSis, caresse345, shattered-hearts-602, cartoonfire, cartoonstar, FairieAngelx3o, BerryDrops, Koriand'r Grayson, Royal Blue, XxNightfirexX, final frost bite fantasy, milkshakelvr, Hidden x Eclipse, lilacprincessmay, Black Raven 13, SuPeR HyPeR chick 101, TerraBB4eva, Xx-Clueless-Dummii-xX, BeautiiQueen, jcyz, RoseXxxXThorn, Satine's Voice, ByE ByE RobIn, Kory Anders Grayson, moonlitsfantasy, Toran of Raysed, Star-Robin, so not telling, 4ever Singing, SaoirseWaveglow, TAUT13, SuperJGirl5, Moondragonheart, chaylorfan, Crazy Sugar Girl, Scriblez, Starsoffire, CERTiFiED02, Lexanna Fable, Ariel34652, gothchik18, CutchieBear, lilsexyprincess,** and **Strombreaker**...WHOA that's almost as long as this chapter, lol! You guys are the best!

Disclaimer: I own nothing below...

* * *

"Hey, Kori." 

Kori's breath caught in her throat for a second. She didn't know what to say, or what to do. Suddenly she wished she could just disappear into the ground, or maybe just start running. Fast. Away from here. But she held her ground.

"You wanted to say something?" she asked, folding her arms in front of her chest. The letter in her hand crinkled, sounding unbelieveably loud in the silence that followed. Richard scratched the back of his head, nodding.

"Yeah. Do you want to come in?" he asked quietly. Kori shook her head. "Right. Um...I just wanted to...talk." Kori waited. "Listen, Kor, I don't want--I mean, I _do_ want...well, what I'm trying to say is..."

"Are you going to say it, or is this a complete waste of my time?" Kori said, surprised at how cold her voice sounded. Sure she was mad at him, but...

Richard was very obviously thinking along the same lines. He scowled for a second, but stayed far too calm to appease Kori's anger. "Yeah, I am. I wanted to say that I'm really, really sorry, Kori. I don't know what I was thinking, breaking up with you and dating Babs. But if you could forgive me..." he pleaded.

"And if this happens again? Am I supposed to keep forgiving you? I gave you chance after chance in the beginning of this summer. Why would you deserve another one?" ori retorted, pleading in her own way.

"Because I love you."

Again, she was speechless. But she caught on quickly. "No you don't. You don't, or you wouldn't have--" She turned away, but Richard grabbed her arm, forcing her to face him.

"Yes I do, Kori, I think I'd know that. Please, Kor. I want _us _again. This entire summer has been a disaster. I was supposed to spend it with you. I didn't. That's no question. But can't we start now?" He hugged her close, and Kori almost gave in. "Be my girlfriend again, Kori?"

* * *

_Flashback_

_"My God, Dick," Karen breathed, tucking Kori's damp hair behind her ear. Kori moaned in her feverish sleep, twisting around violently. "Look at her."_

_"I know," said Richard grimly. What else was there to say? Not much, when Babs was in the room. Thankfully, though, his girlfriend exited right then to take a bathroom break. Richard wet another rag to put on Kori's forehead. _

_"I'm surprised you can think straight at a time like this, considering you've probably caused this entire mess," Rachel pointed out calmly. Richard hated it when she was right. Especially at a time like this. But Rachel was never one to sugar-coat anything._

_"Stop it, Rachel," Karen hissed over the snores of Vic and Gar, "Now's not the time."_

_Rachel frowned. "Does it matter? You both know it. I know I've told you what Kori said you meant to her, Dick. Everything. Tell me, what reason is there for anyone to fight when their whole world is gone?" She got up. "You may well have killed her, Dick."_

_"Rachel!" screeched Karen. Vic stirred and hugged Gar, sucking his thumb. Rachel just shook her head and left to get something to eat._

_It made sense to Richard, as suddenly as a blow to his brain. Whatever that fortune teller had written so long ago still rang out in his head. He'd never been one of the superstitious type, but in some insane way, it all fit together. What if Kori died today? That gypsy lady was right. He'd die inside. And it would all be his fault._

_End Flashback_

But she hadn't. She'd pulled through. And whatever that lady had said meant that she'd come back to him now, right? That's all that kept him going, the knowledge that this would turn out. It would. No question. Because if the first part had come true, then the second had to, too, right?

"Be my girlfriend again?" he asked hopefully.

Kori was considering it, and that was definitely a good sign. She wouldn't flat out refuse him. She really looked like she was about to say yes...Richard 's spirits soared.

"No." They plummeted again.

"What?"

"I said no," Kori answered, and he thought he could detect a hint of sadness in her monotonous tone. "You broke my heart into pieces, Dick, and you expect me to give it back like that? I'm not a fallback, just because your relationship with Babs didn't work out. This isn't going to happen again, and I'm going to make sure of it."

Richard's eyes widened and he paled considerably. This couldn't be happening. Didn't she know how much she meant to him? Kori turned and walked out the door. "Kori, wait!" He reached for her again, but she threw back the dirtiest look she'd ever given him, and he didn't say anything more. Not even while they all packed, or while they checked out of the hotel and separated from Xavier's group (with many phone-number exchangings) or the entire way home, or the rest of the day, did a single word come out of his mouth.

Heartbroken was an understatement.

* * *

Don't you hate it when authors do this? When they leave all those loose ends and NO PROMISE for a sequel that ties them up? Call me a hypocrite, but I hate it too... 

Sorry about that stupid fortune teller thing. I honestly don't know what I was thinking when I wrote it, and it was a really dumb part of the story. This was all I could think of. Again, I'm sorry...I hope you all forgive me for it, I'm sure there were worse parts of this story, but that was probably the most prominent...thank you to **shattered-hearts-602** for the (almost) help on it, though :)

And also, thank you again to all the great reviewers! Over 300 reviews, that's more than any story I've had so far!!!!!!!!!!

--HPFan1994


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